In calling the Lord Jesus "altogether lovely," the Church declares that she sees nothing in Him she does not admire. The world may mock His cross and call it shameful; to her it is the very centre and soul of glory.
A proud and scornful nation might reject their King because of His manger-cradle and peasant clothing, but to her eyes the Prince is glorious even in this humble dress. He is never without beauty to her.
She presses His pierced feet to her heart and looks upon their wounds as jewels. Fools stand by His cross and find plenty of material for mockery and scorn; she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent worship and unlimited love.
✦ Wounds Regarded as Jewels
The world sees the Cross and finds material for mockery. The Church sees the Cross and finds the centre of glory. The world sees the manger and calls it poverty. The Church sees the manger and calls it majesty in humble dress. The world sees the wounds and looks away. The Church presses the pierced feet to her heart and regards the wounds as jewels.
This is not denial. This is not the avoidance of suffering. This is the vision of love — which sees beauty where the world sees shame. The 500 denari soul knows this vision: the very thing that should have destroyed her — the debt, the sin, the midnight in Lubbock — became the centre of her story. The cross that the world would hide is the cross Le presses to her heart. 🙏
Although this declaration by the Church is the very height of the language of praise, it is not possible that this one sentence should be able to express more than a fraction of the admiration felt.
It is but a faint symbol of inexpressible affection — a choice pearl washed ashore from the deep sea of love.
A choice pearl washed ashore from the deep sea of love. The language fails. Spurgeon — one of the mightiest orators who ever lived — says the words are not enough. The sentence towers above all others, but its stature fails to reach the towering height of heaven-born love. If Spurgeon's words are only a pearl washed ashore, the sea from which they came is beyond measurement. 🙏
"Altogether lovely — a choice pearl washed ashore from the deep sea of love."
Spurgeon · The language fails · The love exceeds all expressionThe best way to get your faith strengthened is to have communion with Christ. If you commune with Christ you cannot be unbelieving.
When His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me, I cannot doubt. When my Beloved sits at His table, and He brings me into His banqueting house, and His banner over me is Love, then indeed I believe. When I feast with Him, my unbelief is put to shame and hides its head.
✦ The Embrace That Ends the Doubt
The simplest remedy for doubt ever written: get closer. Not study harder. Not argue better. Not resolve the intellectual difficulty. Get closer. Commune. And the doubt dissolves — not because the questions are answered, but because the Questioner is present.
When His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me, I cannot doubt. You cannot doubt a person who is holding you. The doubt requires distance. The doubt requires the eyes to move from Christ to the waves. But in the embrace, there is no distance. And where there is no distance, there is no doubt. 🙏
It is impossible to look Christ in the face and then doubt Him. When you cannot see Him, then you doubt Him. But you must believe when your Beloved speaks to you and says, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away."
There is no hesitation then. You must rise from the lowlands of your doubt up to the hills of assurance.
The best way to get your faith strengthened is to have communion with Christ. If you commune with Christ you cannot be unbelieving. His banner over me is love. 🙏
✦ The Banner Declares the Territory
His banner over me is love. Song of Solomon 2:4. Not His banner over me is theology. Not His banner over me is obligation. Love. The banner declares the territory. And the territory over Le's life is love — proclaimed, visible, unfurled for everyone to see.
The mornings before dawn are the communion. The reading is the feast. The journal is the testimony. And the banner — the banner has never changed. Through thirty-four days of Guyon. Through seven days of Spurgeon. Through the testing season. Through the packing. Through the move ahead. His banner over Le is love. It was love at midnight in Lubbock. It is love at midday in Caldas. And it will be love at Christmas in France. 🙏
Altogether Lovely
The Church sees nothing in Him she does not admire. His wounds regarded as jewels. His cross the centre of glory. A choice pearl washed ashore from the deep sea of love.
The Remedy for Doubt
Get closer. Commune. The doubt dissolves in the embrace. You cannot doubt a person who is holding you. Impossible to look Him in the face and then doubt.
His Banner — Love
The banner declares the territory. Love at midnight in Lubbock. Love at midday in Caldas. Love at Christmas in France. The banner has never changed.
Spurgeon's seventh day. And today he gives both the highest praise and the simplest remedy — altogether lovely, and get closer.
Guyon's day three — assurance: "It is His own immutability that holds me." And Spurgeon today: when His right hand embraces me, I cannot doubt. The immutability and the embrace are the same holding. Guyon felt it as steadiness. Spurgeon feels it as closeness. Both are the same grip.
Guyon's day twenty — silence means listening: "Silence is often more efficacious than a multitude of words." And Spurgeon: it is impossible to look Christ in the face and then doubt Him. The communion that strengthens faith is not loud. It is the silent looking — the face-to-face encounter before dawn, where no words are needed and doubt hides its head.
Yesterday — faith as the divine connector: Le said faith connects her to pleasing God. Today Spurgeon gives the method of connection: communion. Not effort. Not discipline. Communion. The feast at His table. The embrace. The banner of love unfurled. The connector is faith. The method of connection is closeness.
Le's banner — love: From Lubbock to Caldas to France. The banner has not changed in all the years of the journal. Not in the Guyon days. Not in the Spurgeon days. Not in the testing season. His banner over Le is love. And it will be love in Brittany at Christmas, with the vin chaud and the crèches and the lights — because the banner does not depend on the location. It depends on the Beloved. And the Beloved is altogether lovely. 🙏