Mercy and Truth

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. —Romans 3:23

William Cowper was one of the finest English writers of the nineteenth century. But he carried significant emotional baggage into his adult years. In his early thirties, he experienced a mental breakdown, attempted suicide, and was in an insane asylum for eighteen months. During his confinement, he came across Romans 3:25, which forever changed his life.

Cowper said, “I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made. . . . In a moment I believed, and received the gospel.” ¹ Years later, he expressed his wonder in a hymn that has brought hope to many: “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” ²

The cross reveals the incredible price God paid to redeem us from the sins we often trivialize. Yet it also displays the love of God toward the worst of us, no matter what sins we’ve committed. The gospel is God’s response to every denial of need and every doubt of His love.

¹ Gilbert Thomas, William Cowper and the Eighteenth Century (London: Allen & Unwin, 1948), 132.

² William Cowper, “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” (1772).

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The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings ©2012 Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible ®. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible ® and CSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.