O Love, How Deep
♫ "O love, how deep, how broad, how high, Beyond all thought and fantasy, That God, the Son of God, should take, Our mortal form for mortals' sake!
"He sent no angel to our race, Of higher or of lower place, But wore the robe of human frame, And to this world Himself He came." ♫
A beautiful sunrise or the bright field of stars in the vastness of space display God's creative power, but so does the intricate beauty of a tiny flower. These created things, large and small, reflect His majesty and His love, which are beyond measure. In the life of Abraham, God used the measureless beauty of His creation to reveal the equally boundless blessings of His love for the world. God challenged Abraham to count the stars and the grains of sand on the shore; that would be the number of Abraham's offspring. From among those countless descendants, Israel's Messiah, the Savior of the world, would be born.
We needed a Savior because we were sinful beyond measure. Trapped and overwhelmed by sin, we could not save ourselves. When we were lost in sin, the deep, broad, high love of God reached down to save us, but He "sent no angel" to set us free from sin. From Adam to Abraham and beyond, the family history of the Messiah is traced through the centuries. Generation after generation, through captivity and exile to Israel's return, through years of foreign occupation, the Messiah's ancestry is preserved. God the Son, Israel's long-awaited Messiah and the Savior of the world, came to earth wearing "the robe of human frame." The God whom "heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain" (1 Kings 8:27b) laid aside His majesty to be born among us. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger in Bethlehem.
No angel could deliver us from the curse of sin and death. Only Jesus, true God and true Man, could take the world's sins onto Himself and carry them to the cross. Only God in "mortal form" could suffer and die "for mortals' sake." His was a sacrifice "beyond all thought and fantasy." By God's grace, through faith in our crucified and risen Lord, we have received forgiveness for our sins and the gift of eternal life. The cross and empty tomb have revealed "the breadth and length and height and depth" of God's love in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:18b).
"O love, how deep, how broad, how high!" The immeasurable love of God in Christ is at work in our hearts and lives. Others see this as we are moved by the Spirit to share that love in words of witness and acts of service in Jesus' Name. The deep, broad, high love of God moved the apostle Paul to words of praise: "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).
Lord and Savior, by the power of the Holy Spirit, lead us to share Your immeasurable love with others. Amen.
Dr. Carol Geisler
Reflection Questions:
1. When do you sense you are most in need of God's love and forgiveness?Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
2. How would you put into words what God has done by becoming one of us, to save us?
3. When has God done for you more than you asked?
When do you sense you are most in need of God's love and forgiveness?
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