Reflections on Jonathan Edwards’ Personal Narrative and Falling in Love Again with Your Lord for Men

by Scott Kaczorowski

I thought it would be helpful to provide for you the text of the resolution of Jonathan Edwards that Kevin Aker shared at the Falling in Love Again with Your Lord for Men study.  At 19 years old, Edwards wrote:

“On January 12, 1723. I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down; giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to himself, in any respect. And solemnly vowed, to take God for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and his law for the constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight, with all my might, against the world, the flesh, and the devil, to the end of my life” (From Personal Narrative, An Electronic Edition, Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758. Original Source: Jonathan Edwards: Representative selections. Ed. Clarence H. Faust and Thomas H. Johnson. New York: American book company, 1935. Copyright 2002. This text is freely available provided the text is distributed with the header information provided.)

These are challenging words.  These were challenging words even for Edwards.  The very next sentence that he wrote in his Personal Narrative was this: “But I have reason to be infinitely humbled, when I consider, how much I have failed, of answering my obligation.”

Maybe you feel like Edwards today reflecting on your best intentions.  If so, be encouraged.  This was not only Edwards’ experience.  The psalmist experienced something similar. I am struck by how Psalm 119 ends, given the passion and zeal for obedience to God’s Word that is expressed over the course of the previous 175 (!) verses.  Psalm 119:176 ends by saying, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.”  We are to seek the Lord earnestly.  But as we do that, we must remember and set our whole hope on the fact that God is earnestly seeking us.

If you would like to read more of Edwards’ Personal Narrative, you can access an online version here:

http://mith.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=edwards_personalnarrative.xml&action=show

If you would like to read more of Edwards’ Resolutions you can find them posted on the Desiring God website here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards

May the Lord Jesus Christ deeply and personally meet with you this week as you seek after Him!