O Love Divine, That Stooped To Share
O Love Divine, That Stooped to Share
O Love divine, that stooped to share
Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear,
On Thee we cast each earthborn care;
We smile at pain while Thou art near.
Though long the weary way we tread,
And sorrow crown each lingering year,
No path we shun, no darkness dread,
Our hearts still whispering, “Thou art near!”
When drooping pleasure turns to grief,
And trembling faith is changed to fear,
The murmuring wind, the quivering leaf
Shall softly tell us Thou art near!
On Thee we fling our burdening woe,
O Love divine, forever dear,
Content to suffer while we know,
Living and dying, Thou art near!
AS PROFESSOR of anatomy at Harvard Medical School, Oliver Wendell Holmes was highly regarded both as a pioneer researcher and as a teacher. One day in class, he held up a portion of a skeleton and said, “These, gentlemen, are the bones on which Providence destined man to sit and view the works of creation.”
As a member of the elite Saturday Club, he met regularly with brilliant men like Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, and Agassiz, and together they sharpened their wits. With a few words, Holmes could cut to the heart of any matter.
So this poet-scientist, this humorist-philosopher, wrote a perceptive hymn about God’s great love that “stooped to share.” As a scientist, he recognized the God of creation, but he also knew of a God who shares our burdens and in our pain tells us that He is near and that He loves us.
Now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13
From the book
