There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 588)
1 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice Which is more than liberty
There is no place where earth’s sorrows Are more felt than up in heav’n.
There is no place where earth’s failings Have kindly judgment giv’n.
2 There is a welcome for the sinner, And a promised grace made good;
There is a mercy with the Savior; There is healing in his blood.
There is grace enough for thousands Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations In that upper home of bliss.
3 For the love of God is broader Than the measures of our mind;
And the heart of the eternal Is most wonderfully kind.
There is plentiful redemption In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members In the sorrows of the head.
4 ‘Tis not all we owe to Jesus; It is something more than all:
Greater good because of evil, Larger mercy through the fall.
If our love were but more simple, We should take him at his word;
And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of the Lord.
Text: Frederick W. Faber; Music: North American; Public Domain
Devotion
My daily life has become a bit routine. I get up at the same time every day; I eat the same breakfast every day; I try (with varying degrees of success) to pray and center myself at the same time; I taxi around my family in routine ways; and I go to bed about the same time every day. It can sometimes feel like I am in a rut when it comes to seeing new things in the world around me.
The hymn writer here reminds us that the love of God is broader than the measures of our mind and that we are apt to make the love of God too narrow and fail to see what else might be out there. There is a wideness in God’s mercy and an expansiveness in God’s creation. Even in the comfort of routine, I hope you are curious enough to learn something new today about God and God’s world. Perhaps the newness you discover will make your love more expansive too.
Prayer
Make each day, Lord God, each pattern and each routine, a moment and a reason to be thankful that you are always doing new things. Amen.