When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.
~Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
You are all fair, my love,
And there is no spot in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,
With me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir and Hermon,
From the lions’ dens,
From the mountains of the leopards.
You have ravished my heart,
My sister, my spouse;
You have ravished my heart
With one look of your eyes,
With one link of your necklace.
How fair is your love,
My sister, my spouse!
How much better than wine is your love,
And the scent of your perfumes
Than all spices!
~ Song of Songs 4:7-10
~ Song of Songs 4:7-10
Do you know who He is talking to here beloved?
You.
Hesed (Hebrew for mercy or lovingkindness). The everLove of an ever-loving, relentless G_d.
This is not the fluffy, bright and shiny love we market during the next couple of days.
This is The Love that Made The Worlds. This is the Love that makes anything we call “love” simply fall over before the waves of light that burst forth from with Himself.
This is the Love who killed His own son to bring you and i into His presence.
This is the Love who killed death to make sure none of us ever have to experience what His Son experienced in our place.
This is the Love who visits 28 year-old female soldiers of the cross in prison, while they shiver and starve and relish the honor of glorifying G_d by their suffering. These same who KNOW BEYOND A DOUBT, that this same Lover of their souls will indeed make things right in the scales of eternity; that this tipping point is but a few breaths away.
Could we allow God to love us this way?… Irina Ratushinskaya composed this poem, under persecution, in her mind during 7 years of relentless interrogations, chilling cold, starvation, hard labor, and months of solitary confinement hard labor in a Soviet labor camped named Bareshevo.
Believe me, it was often thus:
In solitary cells, on winter nights…
A sudden sense of joy and warmth
And a resounding note of love.
And then, unsleeping, I would know
A-huddle by an icy wall:
Someone is thinking of me now,
petitioning the Lord for me.
What kind of Love is this? WHAT GET’S A FREEZING GIRL THROUGH SEVEN YEARS OF TORTURE? And brings her out alive and smiling and freer than when she went in?
Jesus.
And no, not sunday-school-jesus.
Jesus. Perfect Lover. Prayer Warrior. Healing Shepherd. Prince of Peace.
That Jesus…. Bow, at least in spirit, friends. Do it for a moment. Do it now.
Yeah but…
No buts. Jesus is not a philosophical figure. He is real. And we know it. Every single person who has ever heard knows it. Only some bow to this Truth now, but One Day, everyone will bow.
This real Jesus invaded this writer’s body one night and ravished Him with His Love. As the one typing here lay prostrate in worship, a moment of G_d’s glory passed by. And within that same moment, His hand touched the heart of one of the most desperate and hurting humans in that building that night. Love is simply a sparse and analogous term for What coursed through the stony mass in my chest – and melted it to flesh. In that moment, He Loved me in a way that instantly changed my outlook on the meaning of words like wholeness and pleasure and intimacy forever.
Here is the kicker though. In that moment of knowing G_d – really knowing Him – something has become abundantly clear to me. This Love is not exclusive to just a few people who have some sort of off-the-hook spiritual experience. It is a Love that is available to all of us. He is a Love that is only held away by one single thing in the universe.
me (… and you).
i had to yield to Him.
The very G_d of the universe Loves us so much, that He will not force Himself on us. He stands at the door and knocks and knocks and knocks and knocks. We have but to open the door all the way and let Him in. This is simply true.
Oh friend, can i assure you of one thing. This is no trick. He is not One to love you and leave you. He is a relentless and passionate Lover. Let Him Love you right now.
Even here and now, whenever the heart begins to burn with a desire for God, she is made able to receive the uncreated light and, inspired and fulfilled by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, she tastes the joys of heaven. She transcends all visible things and is raised to the sweetness of eternal life…. Herein truly is perfect love; when all the intent of the mind, all the secret working of the heart, is lifted up into the love of God.
~Richard Rolle of Hampole (c. 1300-1349)
