Consider the Motion of Your Soul

The motion of your soul. "He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake." (Ps. 23:2)


In vain we lavish out our lives
To gather empty wind,
the choicest blessing earth can yield
will starve a hungry mind.

Come, and the Lord shall feed our souls 
with more substantial meat,
with such as saints in glory love,
with such as angels eat.
...
Come, and He'll cleanse our spotted souls,
and wash away our stains,
in the dear fountain that His Son
poured from His dying veins.

Our guilt shall vanish all away
though black as hell before;
our sins shall sink beneath the sea
and shall be found no more.

And, lest pollution should overspread
our inward powers again,
His Spirit shall bedew our souls
like purifying rain.

Our heart, that flinty stubborn thing,
that terrors cannot move,
that fears no threatenings of His wrath,
shall be dissolved by love.

Or He can take the flint away
that would not be refined,
and from the treasures of His grace
bestow a softer mind.

There shall His sacred Spirit dwell,
and deep engrave His law,
and every motion of our souls
to swift obedience draw.

Thus will He pour salvation down
and we shall render praise,
we, the dear people of His love,
and He, the God of Grace.

Issac Watts

But if it Traps, if it Encages, Then is it Love?

Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome. (I John 5:1-3 The Message)

Where-e'er my flattering Passions rove
I find a lurking snare;
'Tis dangerous to let loose our love
Beneath th' eternal fair.

Souls whom the tie of friendship binds,
And partners of our blood,
Seize a large portion of our minds,
And leave the less for God.

Nature has soft but powerful band,
And reason she controls;
While children with their little hands
Hang closest to our souls.

Thoughtless they act th'old serpent's part;
What tempting things they be!
Lord, how they twine about our heart,
And draw it off from thee!

Dear Sovereign, break these fetters off,
And set our spirits free;
God in himself is bliss enough,
For we have all in Thee.

• Issac Watts