That We May Feel Fully Persuaded That We Are Loved

Grant, Almighty God, that as you often justly hide your face from us, so that on every side we see nothing but evidences of your dreadful judgment--O, grant that we, with minds raised above the scene of this world, may at the same time cherish the hope which you constantly set before us, so that we may feel fully persuaded that we are loved by you, however severely you may chastise us; and may this consolation so support and sustain our souls, that patiently enduring whatever chastisements you may lay upon us, we may ever hold fast the reconciliation which you have promised to us in Christ your Son. Amen.

(a prayer of John Calvin, in his Commentary on Hosea, translated into English in 1846 and updated by me into modern English)