Harkness: A God like that

Saturday, December 8, 2018
Meditation:
    He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
    —Isaiah 53:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
I cannot think that God would be content
To view unmoved the toiling and the strain,
The groaning of the ages, sick and spent,
The whole creation travailing in pain.
The suffering God is no vast cosmic force,
That by some blind, unthinking, loveless power
Keeps stars and atoms swinging in their course,
And reckons naught of men in this grim hour.
Nor is the suffering God a fair ideal
Engendered in the questioning hearts of men,
A figment of the mind to help me steel
My soul to rude realities I ken.
God suffers with a love that cleanses dross;
A God like that, I see upon a cross.
    ... Georgia Harkness (1891-1974), included in The Questing Spirit, Halford E. Luccock & Frances Brentano, New York: Coward-McCann, 1947, p. 308 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 53:4-8; Rom. 5:6-8; 8:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:21-24; 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone are our Savior! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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