Experiencing the Deep

 O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of Thy love;
leading onward, leading homeward
to my glorious rest above.

The words of this old hymn, written by S. Trevor Francis in the latter part of the 1800s, came to mind first and foremost when I saw the prompt for this week’s Five Minute Friday post. We are finite humans, trying to understand an infinite God, and it’s just not possible.

We try to come up with whatever metaphors we can: a deep ocean, a vast sky, the tallest, grandest mountain. Compared to the living God, these things are puny! If we could only understand that what He feels for us is immeasurable by human standards.

I have 3 kids and 1 grandbaby. I look at them, and my heart swells. Sometimes it hurts to see them because my heart just can’t contain all that I feel for them.

That is but a drop in the bucket of how God feels about us.

Scientists and explorers keep making better machines that will take them to the depths of the oceans. Miles and miles down they go to find what there is hidden beneath the surface that we see. Wonders and intrigues meet their eyes as they go deeper and deeper.

Those amazing discoveries pale in comparison to what we have to look forward to learning about God when we meet Him face to face.

Our minds can’t comprehend it. Our hearts can’t contain it. But my soul can rest knowing that the great God of the universe is keeping His hand on me.

 O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of ev’ry love the best;
’tis an ocean vast of blessing,
’tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
’tis heav’n of heav’ns to me;
and it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to Thee.

 

 

This post is a part of the Five Minute Friday link up. To read others on today’s prompt, deep, visit the website.

Bright Hope For Tomorrow

Today’s 10-minute Tuesday post is about hope.

Without hope, I think we would live in despair. If we never thought that things would get any better, that we would always be sick, or in debt, or single, or in a bad marriage, then there would be very little reason for us to want to go on living.

We can hope for things that we will never get. When I was younger, and actually still often today, I hoped that I would be able to get a horse. I’ve always loved them. I’ve always wanted one. But we’ve never lived anywhere I could have one, nor have we had the finances to be able to keep one.

But still I hoped.

But that kind of hope seems different. It’s more like a wish. A desire. Something I really want but that I could live without.

There’s an old hymn that says “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth; thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with 10,000 beside” (“Great is They Faithfulness,” Thomas Chisolm and William Runyon, 1923).

“Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.”

That’s hope. To know that Jesus is with us all the way giving us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Our circumstances might never change, but we have the hope of heaven set before us. In Romans 5:3-5, Paul says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Oh, bright hope for tomorrow. One day at a time.

Don’t give up hope. Don’t give up on Jesus.

 

Horse photo is of Prince, by JacobRohrPhotography