The hymn,
The Love of God, was written by, of all things, a
Californian. Frederick M. Lehman was a California businessman that lost everything through business reverses. Surviving by working in a Pasadena packing house, he dwelt on a sermon about the love of God. As he worked, he composed a poem to God's love and when he got home he put it to music. But he had a problem. He only had two verses. Songs were supposed to have three. Then he remembered a poem someone had given him. It had been found written on a prison cell wall 200 years before by a prisoner who died in prison. No one knew who or why. But the contrast of "prison cell" and "the love of God" is striking when you read:
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
Tho' stretched from sky to sky.
It is just one of God's attributes--His love. He defines love. Love is part of everything He does. And while we sometimes get it wrong ("What is love?", "In what sense does God love everyone?", etc.), the truth and majesty of God's love is life-giving to me in times of difficulty as well as joy.
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angel's song.
2 comments:
It's one of my favorite songs, and I play it on the bagpipes.
I saw a lot of booths at the last homeschooling conference that dealt with movie making. And more and more in this community are giving it a go, and they normally have their movies out for sale. It is always kind of fun to watch them. One of them was on the writing of this song. I'll have to get that to you. It's pretty good.
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