Christian Living Today

Sometimes a hymn has suc beautiful lyrics, you cannot help but wonder at its origin. The beautiful hymn, “The Love of God,” is one such song. Like most of the old hymns, the entire song’s lyrics  are quite meaningful. However, the third stanza is remarkably so.

Apparently this hymn is based upon an old Jewish poem. Perhaps, however, you have never heard or sang this song. If not, here are the lyrics:

(1) 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. CHORUS:O love of God, how rich and pure!How measureless and strong!It shall for evermore endureThe saints’ and angels’ song.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.It is easy to see the connection between this hymn and the Jewish poem believed to be its source when you compare the song’s striking third stanza with these lines from the old poem:

Were the sky of parchment made,A quill each reed, each twig and blade,Could we with ink the oceans fill,Were every man a scribe of skill,The marvelous story, Of God’s great gloryWould still remain untold; For He, most high

The earth and sky Created alone of old.

Such an obvious love of nature - such an overflowing love for nature’s Creator!

This hymn is an old one, maybe even one you have never heard. I rarely managed to sing it clear through without getting tears in my eyes. Somehow the hymn’s author seems to have blended such a clear representation of the love and pain which accompany us through life.

Of course, maybe it is not really all that surprising. After all, a short while before Karolina W. Sandell-Berg penned this hymn in 1858, she experienced tragedy. Reading the words, can anyone doubt this woman had meant a trial face to face, and somehow, but God’s grace, found her Father faithful.

What happened? Sandell and her father were on a boat trip. Although I do not know the details, for some reason her father fell overboard and drowned before her eyes. To be able to pen these words after such a tragic and traumatic loss - God grant me the grace to see you so clearly!

Children of the heav’nly Father

Safely in His bosom gather;

Nestling bird nor star in Heaven

Such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish;

In His holy courts they flourish;

From all evil things He spares them;

In His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever

From the Lord His children sever;

Unto them His grace He showeth,

And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Though He giveth or He taketh,

God His children ne’er forsaketh;

His the loving purpose solely

To preserve them pure and holy.

Lo, their very hairs He numbers,

And no daily care encumbers

Them that share His ev’ry blessing

And His help in woes distressing.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers:

Your Protector never slumbers.

At the will of your Defender

Ev’ry foeman must surrender.

The following poem was written many years ago by Mrs. Wilcox as she travelled from New Haven to New York on the steamer Richard Peck. As husband and wife stood on the deck, Mr. Wilcox pointed out two ships, each heading in separate directions but driven by the same wind.

The thought struck me when I read the poem how often this is a ‘truth’ in life. There are only so many different circumstances. Granted, each is made somewhat individual by the people whose lives are touched, but really, looking back with clearer eyes we can see many similarities between the events which touch your lives and the lives of others you know.

Sickness. Pain. Loss. Betrayal. They are as old as time. They are the result of sin. They were here before we came; they will be here when we are gone. They will touch my life, and yours.

In other words, the winds are the same. However, the direction your ship (your life) takes depends on the set of your sails (the captian of your ship, so to speak). As you read Mrs. Wilcox’s poem, take some time to meditate upon the message contained.

“One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.

‘Tis the set of the sails

And not the gales

Which tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As we voyage along through life:

‘Tis the set of a soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm or the strife.”

May God give us the grace to respond in a God-honoring manner when life’s gales blow upon our sails.