Sunday, June 26, 2005
the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.
the guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
O love of God, how rich and pure! how measureless and strong!
it shall forevermore endure the saints’ and angels’ song.
when years of time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
when men, who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
redeeming grace to Adam’s race—the saints’ and angels’ song.
could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry.
nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
i love the words to that hymn. there is something about the love of God that is so sublime and overwhelming that no matter how long or short we have been walking with God, it is so very difficult to grasp. yet God in His infinite wisdom and grace understands us where we are and deigns to patiently teach us what that love looks like.
church today was so well planned by God. i've been going to moody for sunday school and then meeting up with adam to go to church with him. i was already struck by the message of God's love in sunday school -- it was a message from eph 3:14-21. the speaker exposited the passage as paul's prayer for believers. the keen observations he made in about the nuances of the prayer was so insightful and confounding. he highlighted paul's request to God that he would strengthened the believer with power through His Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith that we may be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend what is the breath and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to the fullness of God. that passage is just incredible, but along with what i have been experiencing in my relationship with adam, i have just seen God's love demonstrated to me in such amazing and overwhelming ways. it makes verse 20, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us come to life even more.
it is truly humbling to know that i am so weak and in my flesh that i did not know how to believe this and feel this before meeting adam. i wished that i could have such a faith as to believe it before it happened and truly understand God's unfailing love for me. i understood the idea of love and the idea of God's goodness and believed it in my mind... but i didn't really "feel" it. as if Christ's death on the cross wasn't enough? how could i even have asked for more? i knew that i couldn't, and having had "good teaching," i know that feelings do not matter. in a sense that is true, but to have the heart and mind aligned in theology and truly experience God's love through the blessing of this relationship has been so incredibly overwhelming. i can take this feeling and know how much more i ought to be feeling in relation to my Lord. the thing is... yes, this is great and wonderful, but one day, adam will fail me. i was reminded of this by my roommate today. but God's love for us is greater far than even this blessing and what i'm feeling and experiencing. it is truly overwhelming to wrap my mind around. no wonder we need power to truly grasp that love!
even as i write this, there are tears in my eyes because God's love is truly overwhelming. i have never felt so loved and cared for by any man in my life and what's so special about it is that i can truly feel God loving me through adam. i cannot explain why i feel that, but i feel that. there's also a certain sense of our mutual awe before God for how He has orchestrated this that just blows our minds. i'm just truly overwhelmed. truly.
... dear God, thank you so much that you are the giver of good gifts... that you are true to your word. Father, please forgive me for my lack of faith in not believing in your love and for your grace and patience towards me by blessing me with a situation that would practically teach me these things. Lord, may we truly honor you with this gift that you have given, that you would help us to truly guard against idols... that we would never love the gift more than the Giver but never lose sight that this is truly a manifestation of your tangible goodness... that even when things are not this good, that we can look back to these moments and what we have learned and experienced here to truly give you the praise and adoration you deserve.
it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.
the guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
O love of God, how rich and pure! how measureless and strong!
it shall forevermore endure the saints’ and angels’ song.
when years of time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
when men, who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
redeeming grace to Adam’s race—the saints’ and angels’ song.
could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry.
nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
i love the words to that hymn. there is something about the love of God that is so sublime and overwhelming that no matter how long or short we have been walking with God, it is so very difficult to grasp. yet God in His infinite wisdom and grace understands us where we are and deigns to patiently teach us what that love looks like.
church today was so well planned by God. i've been going to moody for sunday school and then meeting up with adam to go to church with him. i was already struck by the message of God's love in sunday school -- it was a message from eph 3:14-21. the speaker exposited the passage as paul's prayer for believers. the keen observations he made in about the nuances of the prayer was so insightful and confounding. he highlighted paul's request to God that he would strengthened the believer with power through His Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith that we may be rooted and grounded in love and be able to comprehend what is the breath and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to the fullness of God. that passage is just incredible, but along with what i have been experiencing in my relationship with adam, i have just seen God's love demonstrated to me in such amazing and overwhelming ways. it makes verse 20, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us come to life even more.
it is truly humbling to know that i am so weak and in my flesh that i did not know how to believe this and feel this before meeting adam. i wished that i could have such a faith as to believe it before it happened and truly understand God's unfailing love for me. i understood the idea of love and the idea of God's goodness and believed it in my mind... but i didn't really "feel" it. as if Christ's death on the cross wasn't enough? how could i even have asked for more? i knew that i couldn't, and having had "good teaching," i know that feelings do not matter. in a sense that is true, but to have the heart and mind aligned in theology and truly experience God's love through the blessing of this relationship has been so incredibly overwhelming. i can take this feeling and know how much more i ought to be feeling in relation to my Lord. the thing is... yes, this is great and wonderful, but one day, adam will fail me. i was reminded of this by my roommate today. but God's love for us is greater far than even this blessing and what i'm feeling and experiencing. it is truly overwhelming to wrap my mind around. no wonder we need power to truly grasp that love!
even as i write this, there are tears in my eyes because God's love is truly overwhelming. i have never felt so loved and cared for by any man in my life and what's so special about it is that i can truly feel God loving me through adam. i cannot explain why i feel that, but i feel that. there's also a certain sense of our mutual awe before God for how He has orchestrated this that just blows our minds. i'm just truly overwhelmed. truly.
... dear God, thank you so much that you are the giver of good gifts... that you are true to your word. Father, please forgive me for my lack of faith in not believing in your love and for your grace and patience towards me by blessing me with a situation that would practically teach me these things. Lord, may we truly honor you with this gift that you have given, that you would help us to truly guard against idols... that we would never love the gift more than the Giver but never lose sight that this is truly a manifestation of your tangible goodness... that even when things are not this good, that we can look back to these moments and what we have learned and experienced here to truly give you the praise and adoration you deserve.
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