The Effort explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Prayer and Dependence on God

  The speaker approaches the mercy-seat in prayer, pleading God's promise and seeking rest and refuge.

• Grace and Unmerited Favor

  The speaker marvels at the grace that enables faith, exclaiming 'what grace is this!'

Characters to notice

• The Narrator

  The speaker addresses his own soul, confessing his burden of sin and seeking refuge in Christ.

• Jesus Christ

  Described as the one who answers prayer at the mercy-seat, who wept, bled, died, and now reigns with compassion.

• Satan

  Mentioned as the source of fierce temptations pressing the speaker.

• The Lord

  Addressed as refuge and hiding-place, the one who gives faith.

Key passages

• “Cheer up, my soul, there is a mercy-seat, Sprinkled with blood, where Jesus answers pray’r;”

  Take heart, my soul, for there is a place of mercy, made holy by Christ's blood, where Jesus hears and responds to prayer.

  The mercy-seat is a reference to the atonement and the believer's access to God.

• “Bow’d down beneath a heavy load of sin, By Satan’s fierce temptations sorely press’d, Beset without, and full of fears within, Trembling and faint, I come to thee for rest.”

  I am weighed down by my sins, attacked by Satan's temptations, surrounded by dangers and filled with inner fears, so I come to you, weak and shaking, seeking rest.

  The speaker describes the universal struggle with sin and temptation, and the need for divine rest.

• “Be thou my refuge, Lord, my hiding-place! I know no force can tear me from thy side; Unmoved I then may all accusers face, And answer every charge with “Jesus died.””

  Lord, be my shelter and my safe haven! I am certain that nothing can separate me from you, and with you I can stand against any accuser, replying to every accusation with 'Jesus died for me.'

  The believer's security is found in Christ's death, which answers all charges of sin.