The Immensity of God's Love

Thus says the Lord: The people that have escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the Lord appears to him from afar: with age-old love I have loved you, so I have kept My mercy toward you (Jer. 31:2-3).

Easter is just a couple of weeks away now. When we get to this point in the church year, my mind always comes back to the theme of God’s incredible love for us, especially given how much we don’t deserve it. It is a reality that is so amazing, it’s all but impossible to articulate.

My meditations take me to Gethsemane and the image of Jesus struggling with the passion He is about to endure. This is the place where Jesus seems the most human to me. We have all wrestled with excruciatingly difficult decisions. We know the right thing to do, while simultaneously understanding that acting upon that decision will mean pain, both for ourselves and people we love. In light of my father’s current health situation, those kinds of decisions are becoming a bigger part of my life than I care for. Add to that the fact that I’ve lost two very close friends in the past three months. At times I feel like my world is being turned completely upside down.

The happy sentiments of “Jesus loves you” don’t give me much in the way of comfort in this context, and I question the strength of my own faith more than I care to admit. And yes, I’ve sometimes shaken my fist at God demanding to know what He’s doing, only to feel abashed at my lack of trust. I take great solace in St. Paul’s reminder that even if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). At times like this, I’m especially grateful to be in a choir, to have a vehicle to give voice to emotions that are often too profound and sublime to put into words.

We have a chamber choir at church that sings for special services, or sings sections of pieces within the full choir. The chamber choir will sing on Good Friday evening, as is our tradition. One piece that we are doing is Steve Green’s “Calvary Is the Sea.” (I hope I’ll actually be able to sing the piece this year. The last time we did it, I got so caught up in the text, I couldn’t utter a sound, much less a note, because the tears were flowing so uncontrollably down my face.) The words pay homage to the utter benevolence of God, and His abiding fidelity in the face of our infidelity:

Your broken form upon the cross, Your holy love expressed,
stirs a passion in my soul, calling me to give my best.

Refrain:
No sacrifice I could give to You could match what You’ve given me
for my everything is but a drop of dew, and Calvary is the sea.
Calvary is the sea.

If I could take the love I feel and capture it with words,
More than what my heart could give is still much less than You deserve. (Refrain)

If I should ever doubt Your love, my only prayer would be
That you would keep Your rugged cross etched upon my memory. (Refrain)

I pray that all of us will remember that we have a place to go when life doesn’t make sense. That place is the foot of the Cross.