For Such A Worm As I
Issac Watts
Alas! And did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head,
For such a worm as I.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay,
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
‘Tis all that I can do.
Buried in shadows of the night,
We lie till Christ restores the light;
Wisdom descends to heal the blind,
And chase the Darkness from the mind.
Jesus beholds where Satan reigns,
Binding his slaves in heavy chains;
He sets the prisoners free, and breaks
The iron bondage from our necks.
Poor helpless worms in Thee possess
Grace, wisdom, power, and righteousness;
Thou art our mighty All, and we
Give our whole selves, O Lord, to thee.
Joseph Hart in “When I by Faith My Maker See”
Lord, help a worthless worm, so weak
He can do nothing good;
May all I act, or think, or speak,
Be sprinkled with thy blood!
Job 25:6
How much less man, that is a worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?
Psalm 22:6
I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Isaiah 41:14
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Bernard of Cluny “The Celestial Country”
Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care:
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is There.
O happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinner
A mansion with the blest!
That we should look, poor wand' rers,
To have our home on high!
That worms should seek for dwellings
Beyond the starry sky!
William Cowper
Mourning and Longing (Book III, Hymn 24)
The Saviour hides His face;
My spirit thirsts to prove
Renew'd supplies of pardoning grace,
And never-fading love.
The favor'd souls who know
What glories shine in Him,
Pant for His presence as the roe
Pants for the living stream.
What trifles tease me now!
They swarm like summer flies!
They cleave to everything I do,
And swim before my eyes.
How dull the Sabbath day,
Without the Sabbath's Lord!
How toilsome then to sing and pray,
And wait upon the Word!
Of all the truths I hear,
How few delight my taste!
I glean a berry here and there,
But mourn the vintage past.
Yet let me (as I ought)
Still hope to be supplied;
No pleasure else is worth a thought,
Nor shall I be denied.
Though I am but a worm,
Unworthy of His care,
The Lord will my desire perform,
And grant me all my prayer.
Lively Hope and Gracious Fear (Book III, Hymn 51)
I was a grovelling creature once,
And basely cleaved to earth:
I wanted spirit to renounce
The clod that gave me birth.
But God hath breathed upon a worm,
And sent me from above
Wings such as clothe an angel's form,
The wings of joy and love.
With these to Pisgah's top I fly
And there delighted stand,
To view, beneath a shining sky,
The spacious promised land.
The Lord of all the vast domain
Has promised it to me,
The length and breadth of all the plain
As far as faith can see.
How glorious is my privilege!
To Thee for help I call;
I stand upon a mountain's edge,
O save me, lest I fall!
Though much exalted in the Lord,
My strength is not my own;
Then let me tremble at His word,
And none shall cast me down.
Issac Watts
Faith in Christ for Pardon and Sanctification
How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin, how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds
Fast in his slavish chains.
But there’s is a voice of sovereign grace
Sounds from the sacred word:
“Ho! Ye despairing sinners, come,
And trust upon the Lord.
My soul obeys th’ almighty call,
And runs to this relief;
I would believe thy promise, Lord;
O help my unbelief!
To the dear fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul
From crimes of deepest dye.
Stretch out thine arm, victorious King
My reigning sins subdue;
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.
A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall;
Be though my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.
Great God! how infinite art thou!
What worthless worms are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee!
Awake my heart, arise, my tongue;
Prepare a tuneful voice;
In God, the life of all my joys,
Aloud will I rejoice.
’Tis he adorned my naked soul,
And made salvation mine;
Upon a poor, polluted worm
He makes his graces shine.
Theodosia (Anne Steele), “And Did the Holy and the Just”, 1760
And did the Holy and the Just,
The Sovereign of the skies,
Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
That guilty worms might rise?
Yes, the Redeemer left his throne,
His radiant throne on high,
(Surprising mercy! love unknown!)
To suffer, bleed, and die!
He took the dying traitor’s place,
And suffered in his stead;
For man (O miracle of grace!)
For man the Saviour bled.
Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
In thy atoning blood!
By this are sinners snatched from hell,
And rebels brought to God.
What glad return can I impart
For favours so divine?
O take my all, this worthless heart,
And make it wholly thine.
C.H. Spurgeon on Colossians 1:28 “Perfect in Christ Jesus.”
Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in you? Does not every day teach you that? Every tear which trickles from your eye, weeps "imperfection"; every harsh word which proceeds from your lip, mutters "imperfection." You have too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream for a moment of any perfection in yourself. But amidst this sad consciousness of imperfection, here is comfort for you--you are "perfect in Christ Jesus."In God's sight, you are "complete in Him;" even now you are "accepted in the Beloved." But there is a second perfection, yet to be realized, which is sure to all the seed. Is it not delightful to look forward to the time when every stain of sin shall be removed from the believer, and he shall be presented faultless before the throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? The Church of Christ then will be so pure, that not even the eye of Omniscience will see a spot or blemish in her; so holy and so glorious, that Hart did not go beyond the truth when he said-- "With my Saviour's garments on, Holy as the Holy One." Then shall we know, and taste, and feel the happiness of this vast but short sentence, "Complete in Christ." Not till then shall we fully comprehend the heights and depths of the salvation of Jesus. Doth not thy heart leap for joy at the thought of it? Black as thou art, thou shalt be white one day; filthy as thou art, thou shalt be clean. Oh, it is a marvellous salvation this! Christ takes a worm and transforms it into an angel; Christ takes a black and deformed thing and makes it clean and matchless in His glory, peerless in His beauty, and fit to be the companion of seraphs. O my soul, stand and admire this blessed truth of perfection in Christ.
John Flavel
Let us consider and marvel that ever this great and blessed God should be so much concerned, as you have heard He is in all His providences, about such vile, despicable worms as we are! He does not need us, but is perfectly blessed and happy in Himself without us. We can add nothing to Him.
Among the unsanctified there are to be found multitudes of men and women of more raised and excellent parts, nimble wits, strong memories, solid judgments; yea, men and women of cleaner conversations, strict morality, adorned with excellent virtues; capable, if called, to do him abundantly more service than thou canst; yet these are passed by, and he becomes a suitor to such a poor worthless thing as thou art; yea, and rejoices in his choice. Here is the triumph of free-grace.
Jonathan Edwards
Fallen man is a mean despicable creature, a contemptible worm; but Christ, who has undertaken for us, is infinitely honorable and worthy.
Fallen man is polluted, but Christ is infinitely holy!
Fallen man is hateful, but Christ is infinitely lovely!
Fallen man is the object of God’s indignation, but Christ is infinitely dear to him!
We have dreadfully provoked God, but Christ has performed that righteousness which is infinitely precious in God’s eyes.
The Most High is a God that hears prayer. Though He is infinitely above all, and stands in no need of creatures, yet He is graciously pleased to take a merciful notice of such poor worms of the dust. He presents Himself as one sitting on a mercy-seat, that men may come to Him in prayer.
Thomas Manton How May We Cure Distractions in Holy Duties
Meditate upon the greatness of God. It is of great consequence with whom we are dealing. O if you could see him that is invisible, you would have more reverence! Imagine yourself in heaven in the midst of the blessed angels standing before the all-seeing God. O with what reverence, with what fear, should a poor worm creep into his presence!
Richard Baxter A Christian Directory
Look to heaven, man, there is your home and hope. O blinded mortals that love to dwell on the earth like worms! You are immortal souls, made for God himself, to admire him, love him, serve him and enjoy him. O beg of God a heavenly light and mind to look often into heaven, and worldliness will vanish away in shame.
Octavius Winslow
O unexampled love! O infinite and free grace! That God should become incarnate — that the Holy One should so take upon Him sin, as to be dealt with by stern justice as though He were Himself the sinner — that He should drain the cup of wrath, give His back to the smiters, endure the shame and the spitting, and at last be suspended upon the cross, and pour out His last drop of most precious blood — and all this for me! For me a rebel! For me a worm! For me the chief of sinners! "The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!" (Galatians 2:20) Be astonished, O heavens! and be amazed, O earth! Was ever love like this?
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Life in Christ 1 John 5:19 "We know that we are of God..."
I believe increasingly that the most delicate test we can ever have of the fact that we are Christians is that we are amazed and surprised at that fact, that we never cease to wonder at ourselves. We have a sense of escape, of having been delivered. We have a deep consciousness of the privilege and a consciousness of the responsibility. We look at ourselves and say, ‘Am I of God in that sense? Is that true of me? Is it possible that I am going to be with Him and in His presence for all eternity? Is it possible that such a worm as I should be able to say, “Abba Father” and know that the eternal everlasting God is my Father in the Lord Jesus Christ?’ We are ‘of God’ – oh, the wonder and amazement of it all, the surprise and the gratitude, the praise and the thanksgiving, the privilege and the high responsibility!
“God's Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1”
Look at the matter in this way: here are you and I, miserable worms in this world, miserable worms with our arrogance and our pride and our appalling ignorance. We deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth. But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God, these three blessed Persons, considered us, considered our condition, considered what would happen to us, and the consequence was that these three persons—God—Whom man hath never seen, stooped to consider us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed. The Son said, 'I will leave this glory for a while, I will dwell in the womb of a woman, I will be born as a babe, I will become a pauper, I will suffer insult in the world, I will even allow them to nail Me to a cross and spit in My face.' He volunteered to do all that for us; and, at this very moment, this blessed Second Person in the Trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me. He came down to earth and did all that, rose again, and ascended to heaven; and it was all planned 'before the world' for you and for me."
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
http://articles.ochristian.com/article538.shtml
But if you realize that you have sinned against God and angered Him; if you feel you are a worm and less, and unworthy even of the name of man, quite apart from being unworthy of God; if you feel you are just nothing in view of the way you have left Him and turned your back upon Him, and ignored Him and flouted Him; if you just cast yourself upon Him and His mercy, asking Him if in His infinite goodness and kindness He can possibly make something of you, all will be different. God never desired to see you as you now are. It was against His wish and His will that you have wandered away. It is all of your own doing. Tell Him so and tell Him further that what worries and distresses you most of all is not merely the misery you have brought upon yourself, but the fact that you have disobeyed Him and insulted Him and wronged Him.
Then having realized all this, act upon it. Leave the far country. Leave the swine and the husks. Turn your back on sin and give yourself to God.