“Batter my heart, three-personed God, for youAs y
et but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bendY
our force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.”
Excerpt from “Batter My Heart,” John Donne
“The transition from the complaining prophet to the rejoicing prophet surely must be seen as a work of God’s sovereign grace. Nothing else could explain how a person could be joyful and contented in face of the calamities Habakkuk had to undergo. May the Lord himself continue to provide the grace of life to people of this generation by the faith that justifies.”
O. Palmer Robertson
“Contrary to what we expect to be the case, the deeper into weakness and suffering and testing we go, the deeper Christ’s solidarity with us. As we go down into pain and anguish, we are descending ever deeper into Christ’s very heart, not away from it. Look to Christ. He deals gently with you. It’s the only way he knows how to be.”
Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers