How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure.
That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away.
As wounds which mar the chosen One, bring many sons to glory.Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life; I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything—no gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?  I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart:  His wounds have paid my ransom.

 

 

 

On Sunday, I will have the privilege of singing this song during our worship service. 

 

After reading the lyrics and singing through it a few times, I was amazed at its simplicity and tremendous depth.  This hymn was written in 1995 by Stuart Townend.  I wanted to know more about the author so I went first to iTunes and then to the web.  I found his blog and these comments from him regarding this song:

 

            ….I’d been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I’d lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else ‘crucify him’. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling.

 

Have you spent time meditating on the cross?  Have you really pondered the torturous death—the price paid by Jesus to make you his treasure?    His treasure!   Somehow we have to get past the emotion of it all and really get it into our heads.  Your walk with Jesus can not be purely emotional.  Your faith cannot be rooted in the sentiment of the His love, nor the ‘feeling’ of it all.  It has to be rooted IN HIS LOVE.  The emotion can be part of it, but you have to get it into you heart, and into your head.  Somehow we all have to get to a point where it is an all-consuming relationship. 

 

If you found my blog by accident, I hope you will take time to read the lyrics and really get them into your heart.  For it was “his dying breath that brought us life,” and “his wounds that paid our ransom.”  This is one of the ways that God will get a hold of you.  This is one of the ways he will keep you.  If you stop by regularly, please feel free to link to this post, or get the lyrics out there somehow. 

 

If you want to hear the song, I found several artists who have recorded How Deep the Father’s Love for Us. I would recommend the version done by Phillips, Craig, & Dean or the one by Nicole Nordeman. 

 

God Bless. 

Who is Jalal Talabani?

The Middle East is fascinating for me.  Especially where Israel is concerned.  Given the rhetoric between Iran and Israel in recent weeks (see here, here, and here for some recent stories), I found this photograph and story from Joel Rosenberg to be worth noting.

In this photograph we find Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani meeting the former Israeli Prime Minister (and present Defense Minister), Ehud Barak.  Joel Rosenberg notes that this meeting was arranged by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  He goes on to praise Talabani for his character, courage, and integrity when it comes to the many issues facing Iraq these days. 

Rosenberg finishes his story this way:

Talabani’s office downplayed its (the meetings) significance to the Iraqi press so as not to stir up more trouble inside their troubled country. But the truth is, it was significant. The last President of Iraq — Saddam Hussein — vowed to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons….and went on to launch 39 ballistic missiles at the Jewish State during the first Gulf War. Clearly, Talabani is cut from wholly different cloth. And thank God. Worth watching, to say the least.   

The question becomes:  Will Talabani ever receive any credit?