Spurgeon’s reading this morning includes this text:
“He has chosen us for his portion, and we have chosen him for ours. It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing-“
“Lov’d of my God for him again
With love intense I burn;
Chosen of him ere time began,
I choose him in return.”
He quotes a stanza from an old hymn
Title:The Believers ALL Author:Toplady Meter:C. M.Language:English Publication Date:1793
LXXIX. The Believers ALL
1 Compar’d with Christ, in all beside
No comeliness I see;
The one thing needful, dearest Lord,
Is to be one with thee.
2 The sense of thy expiring love
Into my soul convey:
Thyself bestow; for thee alone
My ALL IN ALL I pray.
3 Less than thyself will not suffice,
My comfort to restore:
More than thyself I cannot crave;
And thou canst give no more.
4 Lov’d of my God, for him again
With love intense I’d burn:
Chosen of thee e’er time began,
I’d chuse thee in return.
5 Whate’er consists not with thy love,
O teach me to resign:
I’m rich to all th’ intents of bliss
If thou, O God, art mine.
Rainbow Trout 