Presbyterian & Reformed

I found a book a while back; no great find, to be sure, as nearly every Reformed Christian in the known world has heard of it before me I am sure, and yet, today, in the wilderness, it spoke to me.

It is “Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin in the Psalms” and it puts paid to any silly talk of Calvin being less than pastoral.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. Ps 22:14

We see, then, that David was not buffeted with the waves of affliction like a rock which cannot be moved, but was agitated within by sore troubles and temptations, which, through the infirmity of the flesh, he would never have been able to sustain had he not been aided by the power of the Spirit of God. How these sufferings are applicable to Christ I have informed you a little before. Being a real man, he was truly subject to the infirmities of our flesh, only without the taint of sin. The perfect purity of his nature did not extinguish the human affections; it only regulated them, that they might not become sinful through excess. The greatness of his griefs, therefore, could not so weaken him as to prevent him, even in the midst of his most excruciating sufferings, from submitting himself to the will of God, with a composed and peaceful mind. Now, although this is not the case with respect to us, who have within us turbulent and disorderly affections, and who never can keep them under such restraint as not to be driven hither and thither by their impetuosity, yet, after the example of David, we ought to take courage; and when, through our infirmity, we are, as it were, almost lifeless, we should direct our groanings to God, beseeching him that he would be graciously pleased to restore us to strength and vigor. (Emph. added)

Amen and amen!