The Disinterestedness of God's Choice
“/ have chosen ihee in the furnace of affliction” — Isa. xlviii. 10.
It is not in the furnace of affliction that man commonly chooses man. Our friendships are most frequently the fruit of summer days. We cling often to the friend who is downtrodden, but our first love came to him when he was not downtrodden; we did not choose him in affliction. All the more marvellous, therefore, is the Divine love. It is not merely said that having loved us from the beginning God loves us to the end, whatever may befall us. This we should have expected from an infinite love, it would not surprise us. But here is a love which does not merely endure in spite of the destitution of its object, but which actually chooses its object in the moment of its destitution. Here is a love which comes to me not for what I have but for what I have not, comes to me when I am wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and helpless, comes to me when I have nothing to give and nothing to attract. It seeks me in my poverty that it may dower me with its wealth, it seeks me in my loneliness that it may glad me with its fellowship, it seeks me in my weariness that it may inspire me with its strength, it seeks me in my deformity that it may crown me with its beauty; it chooses me in my furnace of affliction.
0 Thou Divine Love that passest the power of all human love to comprehend Thee, what shall I render unto Thee for Thine unspeakable gift — the gift of Thyself? How shall I sufficiently bless Thee that Thou hast bent so low as to take cognisance of my lowliness. How shall I adequately praise Thee that Thou hast descended so deep as to come into contact with the depth of my meanness. The most infinite thing about Thee to me is the infmiteness of Thy stooping; it is in Thy boundless power to bend that Thou surpassest the loves of men. I accept Thy glorious offer of union with my nothingness. I come to
Tlice just as I am, as Thou hast chosen me 1 seek Thee without waiting for the ornaments of life, knowing that when Thou shalt receive me Thou shalt deck me with the gems of heaven and adorn me with the jewels of Thy crown. Out of the furnace of my affliction I fly to Thee.