Hymn: “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” – Samuel Trevor Francis (1834-1925)
Tune: EBENEZER
In describing this deep, deep love of Jesus, Samuel Francis
uses some great descriptors:
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| Tuckaleechee Caverns - Townsend, Tennessee |
- · Vast
- · Unmeasured
- · Boundless
- · Free
- · Mighty
- · Full
- · Underneath me
- · All around me.
I suppose we can’t talk (or write) enough about the love of
Jesus; obviously, we can’t sing enough about it! It is, you recall, something
that only his loved ones know. Beyond
explanation or comprehension, the love of Jesus is in every way too precious to put into words! But we keep
trying, we who think "the ink of the writer is more
powerful than the blood of the martyr."
In my part of Tennessee, we have lots of
caverns – incredible creations of God turned into tourist attractions. These
made for wonderful field trips during elementary school days. Nothing quite as
grand as Carlsbad, but every bit as fascinating. Most were inhabited at one
time long ago by native Americans which added to my personal interest in them,
even as a child: age-old smoke stains still clinging to the ceilings in the
large ‘rooms.’
After paying a modest fee, we would begin
our descent into the lower regions of the earth, following a guide dressed in a
faux park ranger uniform. We’d finally arrived at the end of the tour, and he
would flip a light-switch and plunge us into deep darkness. That was my least
favorite part, by the way! It was realizing among all those stalactites and
stalagmites that I was deep inside the planet – that’s what I loved.
Those are the memories which come back to me
when I sing this hymn about the deep, deep love of Jesus.
But today’s hymn-line that Jesus ever, ever
loves and never, never changes – this is the one I am drawn to. I admit that I
wonder if the writer borrowed that nevermore word from Edgar Allen Poe!
Even if he did, I love his use of it here.There is something about the always-ness of
God that attracts me to him and in turn, causes me to try to attract others to him.
Quoth the hymnwriter, “Nevermore.”
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