Get 30 FREE sermons.

Sermon Illustrations > Discipline > Ephraim Repenting. Jer 31:18-20

Ephraim Repenting. Jer 31:18-20


Olney Hymns, by William Cowper, from Cowper's Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

My God, till I receive Thy stroke,How like a beast was I!So unaccustom'd to the yoke,So backward to comply.

With grief my just reproach I bear;Shame fills me at the thought,How frequent my rebellions were,What wickedness I wrought.

Thy merciful restraint I scorn'd,And left the pleasant road;Yet turn me, and I shall be turn'd;Thou are the Lord my God.

"Is Ephraim banish'd from my thoughts,Or vile in my esteem?No," saith the Lord, "with all his faults,I still remember him.

"Is he a dear and pleasant child?Yes, dear and pleasant still;Though sin his foolish heart beguiled,And he withstood my will.

"My sharp rebuke has laid him low He seeks my face again;My pity kindles at his woe,He shall not seek in vain."