There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 588, focus on verses 1 and 2)
1 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
like the wideness of the sea;
there’s a kindness in God’s 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 such kindly judgment giv’n.
2 There is welcome for the sinner,
and a promised grace made good;
there is 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 the mind;
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
But we make this love too narrow
by false limits of our own;
and we magnify its strictness
with a zeal God will not own.
4 ‘Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
it is something more than all:
greater good because of evil,
larger mercy through the fall.
Make our love, O God, more faithful;
let us take you at your word,
and our lives will be thanksgiving
for the goodness of the Lord.
Text: Frederick W. Faber; Music: North American; Public Domain
Devotion
It is tempting to think of mercy as something that has limits—something that needs to be measured out carefully. Some of us may even wonder if there is enough grace for us, or if we have somehow gone too far to receive it.
This hymn reminds us that the idea of limited grace and mercy couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a wideness in God’s mercy, “like the wideness of the sea.” It is not small or scarce, but expansive beyond what we can imagine. There is welcome for the sinner, healing found in Christ, and grace enough not just for a few, but for “thousands of new worlds.” There is room, more room than we tend to believe.
God’s mercy is not something we must compete for or prove ourselves worthy of. It is already given and given abundantly. Today, we are invited to trust in the wideness of God’s mercy—to receive it for ourselves, and to believe that there is more than enough to go around.
Prayer
Limitless God, daily remind us that your mercy and grace know no bounds. We are never out of the reach of your love and care. Help us to hold on to those reminders and trust deeply in your wideness. Amen.