by James Smith, 1860

To love, and be loved — is real happiness. When we look around and feel that we love all we know, and believe that all who know us have kindly feeling towards us — it is most pleasant.

Much of the happiness of heaven consists in this, that each one loves the whole, and the whole loves each one. Yes, all is love there. The saints love the angels, and the angels love the saints, and God loves them both.

Our highest honor, and our sweetest happiness below, is to be beloved of God. For if God loves us, he will bless us; and however he may try us, he will withhold no truly good thing from us.

He used Israel of old to punish his foes, and to execute the decrees of his justice; to encourage them in which, his servant Moses assured them, "The Lord your God shall keep unto you, the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto your fathers; and he will love you, and bless you." Deuteronomy 7:13. Israel represents true believers; and what was spoken to them — will apply to us. If therefore we are . . .
doing the will of God from the heart,
making his word our rule, and
making his glory our aim —
he will love us and bless us!

"He will love you." WHOM will he love? Israel, as delivered from bondage Egypt, brought into the wilderness, and now a poor helpless people.

That is, he will love US, who are delivered from . . .
the bondage of the law,
the tyranny of Satan, and
the spirit of this world.

He will love us, to whom the world is a wilderness, yielding us neither contentment, satisfaction, nor delight. He will love us, though poor — poor in this world, poor in spirit, and poor in our experience. He will love us, having nothing to present to him, and unable to do anything worthy of him. He will love us, not only poor — but ungrateful, and often complaining — when we ought to be praising; and murmuring — when we ought to be filled with gratitude. Therefore we are utterly unworthy — unworthy of the lowest place in his house, to be the lowest drudge in his service, or to share in his most distant regard. But, as believing in Jesus, as united to Jesus, as acknowledged by Jesus — he will love us, and bless us.

WHAT will God do for His people? He will LOVE them freely!

He will prefer you to all others — setting His eye and His heart upon you.

He will take you into fellowship — the nearest, dearest, sweetest fellowship with Himself.

He will make you happy with the persuasion of the facts . . .
that He has loved you with an everlasting love,
that He delights in His love to you, and
that He will ever love you freely!

O blessed state — that the great, the infinite, the holy Lord God, will love a worm like me . . .
preferring me even to the angels;
indulging me with the freest, sweetest fellowship with Himself;
and sweetly persuading my soul of His eternal love to me!

"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely — for my anger has turned away from them!" Hosea 14:4

WHY will He love me? Just because He will. The cause, the reason — is to be found in His loving heart, and sovereign will alone. Not because I am good, or amiable, or can repay His love — for He loves freely, and fixes His love on the most unlikely and unworthy objects!

Lord, help me to believe the love which You have to me, and to love You in return! O shed abroad Your sweet love in my heart, and fill that heart with glowing love to You! "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you!" Jeremiah 31:3

"He will bless you." Yes — and bless you like a God!

He will bless you with the knowledge of himself — with such an acquaintance with himself, as will . . .
draw out your heart to him,
fix your affections upon him,
divorce you from all beside him.

He will bless you with likeness to himself, stamping his image on the soul, and making your life reflect his moral perfections.

He will bless you with a fitness to dwell with himself, in the world of light, holiness, and love. O what a mercy to know God in Jesus, to be like God, and to be qualified to dwell with God forever!

He will bless your temporal mercies — your bread and your water, your going out and coming in. He will bless you, not only in your person — but in your relationships, and will make you a blessing to others.

What an inestimable privilege to be blessed by God . . .
blessed in body and soul,
blessed in temporals and spirituals,
blessed in time and eternity!

To be blessed as only God can bless, and to be blessed by God with all his heart and soul.

Precious state! My soul, hide it deep in your heart, that God, the Author and giver of every good and perfect gift, will indeed love you and bless you!

God's love is always free and unchangeable. Everything outside of God will change — but his love is immutable!

God's blessing is infinite and eternal. We cannot fully understand, what it is for God to bless — as an expression of his love. There is a vastness, a dazzling glory in it. To be blessed of God — is to be blessed forever.

But HOW may I know that God will love me? Hear his word, "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." Do you love God? If not, will you seek him? If you do, you will find him, perceive his glory, and soon love him. Hear the Savior, "The Father loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." Do you love Jesus? Do you believe that he came from God? If so, you . . .
entrust him with the salvation of your soul,
rely on his precious promises,
and obey his holy precepts.

In so doing, you prove your love to him, and there can be no question but that "he will love you, and bless you."

Would you be truly blessed — blessed of God, blessed now, and blessed forever more? Would you be blessed with all that you need, all that you can enjoy, and all that you can turn to a good account? Just follow the Savior's advice, and you shall be so, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Seek principally, seek especially, to enter the kingdom, to extend the kingdom, to be an ornament to the kingdom. Seek . . .
to possess the righteousness which Jesus has wrought,
to experience the righteousness, which the Holy Spirit produces,
and to perform the righteousness which Jesus requires
 — and so will you be entitled to appropriate the language of Moses to yourself, "He will love you, and bless you!"

My Savior's ever watchful eye,
Is over me for good;
What will he not on me bestow,
Who has himself bestowed?

Sorrows, and agonies, and death,
You did endure for me,
When all the sins of God's elect,
Were made to meet on thee.

Exult, my soul, your safety stands
Unshaken as his throne,
His people's everlasting life
Is founded on his own!