According to an online journal, in the early 20th century, a man named Frederick Lehman wrote the words to a hymn that is still sung today, called “The Love of God.” The first stanza begins:
“The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell, / It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.”
Encouraging words, to be sure. But just how far does the love of God go? How far can it reach? Does the Bible address this question?
For starters, I want to refer you to the flood story in the book of Genesis. If you grew up in church, you probably saw a picture of Noah on board a boat with a host of animals around him. There is something quaint about that depiction, but in reality, the flood story is one of horrific destruction. According to the Bible, mankind became exceedingly wicked, so wicked that violence filled the land, defiling the earth itself (Genesis 6:5, 11). This wickedness becamse so egregious and pervasive that God’s holiness and justice demanded His response. Though grieved to His heart by how far mankind had fallen (Genesis 6:6), He determined to destroy mankind, and “all flesh,” meaning that the animals and other creatures perished too—except for those on Noah’s ark (Genesis 6:12–13, 17, 19).
When judgment fell, it was horrific, and the destruction was beyond words. But after the flood, something significant happened: God made a covenant—not only with all people, but with “all flesh” (Genesis 9:11–17), so this even included animals. He promised that He would never destroy all flesh again by means of a flood. Then He gave a sign of His covenant—the rainbow.
Years ago, when I was reading the story of the flood in the King James Version of the Bible, I noticed that Genesis 9:13 quotes God as saying, “I set My bow in the cloud.” I remember thinking, “ ‘Bow?’ What’s with that? Most modern translations say ‘rainbow.’ But ‘bow?’ ” Years later, I learned that the Hebrew word means just that—“bow,” as in the kind that we use to shoot an arrow. In essence, God is saying, “I’m hanging My weapon up in the cloud. When you see it, remember that I will never do this again. My bow is in the cloud, not in My hand.”
Many of us can relate. Anyone who has raised a child knows what it is like to express some degree of parental wrath. But when the time for wrath has passed, our compassion returns and we seek to comfort our child, granting reassurance that, while parental wrath is sometimes very real, it is also temporary. What is not temporary is our love, and that is the very message God is communicating through His covenant. Every time we see a rainbow, we are reminded of the love behind that covenant.
A Love That Reaches Everyone
God has a unique love that is designed for those who are in covenant with Him. The Hebrew word for this kind of covenant love is hesed. You can only experience it if you are in covenant with Him. The covenant after the flood is unique, in that it includes everyone, but it is limited in its scope to the preservation of life.
Psalm 136:25 expands on this theme, informing us that preservation of life involves more than not sending another flood. This verse says to “[give thanks to Him] who gives food to all flesh, for His hesed is everlasting.” In His consistent covenant love, God not only restrains Himself from destroying us; He provides for us, and for all flesh.
So, who does God’s love reach? When it comes to basics like existence, everyone.
What Circumstances Are Affected by His Love?
So, when God made this covenant with all His creatures, He cast a wide net. But there is an added layer of covenant love available only to those who enter into a relational covenant with Him, embracing Him as their God exclusively.
King Jehoshaphat relied on this specific expression of covenant love when a host of armies was marching toward Jerusalem, the capital city of God’s people, who were in a relational covenant with Him. In response to this emergency, Jehoshaphat acted in bold faith. He sent a group of unarmed worshipers out in front of the army, proclaiming, in concert with Psalm 136: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His hesed is everlasting.” In the original language that the Old Testament was written in, the word everlasting is emphasized, giving us a strong clue that they were saying, “God’s love is good not only for His people in the past; it is good for us right now, in this very situation.” Miraculously, the invading armies were destroyed without God’s people having to fire one arrow.
So, what kind of situation does the love of God reach down to? To our worst nightmares. How long is His love good for? Forever.
What Kind of Sin is God’s Love Good For?
But it gets even better. Again, for those who have entered into a relational covenant with God, His hesed provides a place for them to run to—even when they sin. Psalm 51 records the prayer of David, as he pleads for mercy after He has committed both adultery and murder. In Psalm 51:1, we read, “Be gracious to me, O God!” But based on what? “ . . . according to Your hesed.”
We all mess up. We all go our own way. But people who are in a relational covenant with God have a refuge, a place where mercy can be found when it is so deeply needed. Unlike the covenant love that we read about after the flood, thishesed is a love that is reserved only for those who are in a relational covenant with God, so the only way to access it is to get into a relational covenant with Him.
So what kind of sin can be met by God’s love? The worst of our worst.
According to the online journal mentioned above, the last stanza of Lehman’s hymn was actually borrowed from a Jewish poet who lived nearly a thousand years ago, named Meir ben Isaac Nehoria. This stanza of the hymn is so profound that it bears repeating:
“Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, / Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, / To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, / Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.”
What This Means for Us
In short, there is no time limit, there is no depth limit, there is no sin limit to the infinite reach of God’s love. So, what do we do in light of such measureless love? Psalm 136 and 2 Chronicles 20 agree: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His covenant love is everlasting!” We simply give thanks. And the New Testament adds one more response. In 1 John 4:16, the Bible says, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.” The blessing is not complete until we believe—really believe—in His love, specifically for us.
I want to challenge you to take 30 seconds out of your schedule and give thanks. Take an on-the-spot vacation, and just for a few moments, revel in the love of God. Thank Him that it is everlasting, reaching through history, all the way to your life. Thank Him that His bow is hung in the clouds, that His love is good even when your worst fears materialize, even when you are looking at your own sin, shocked at what you yourself have done. His love is good for that.
Don’t try to earn it. Don’t try to bargain for it. Just give thanks. And believe!
What Landed?
Which truth about the reach of God’s love do you find most helpful: that it reaches into your circumstances, reaches beyond your failures, or simply never runs out? Why?
Amen!
“So many Christians are disturbed, so many are restless, because they are not living in the knowledge that they are under the care of the Lord; and then there is no power to walk. Why have you so little power in walk or service? It is because you are not yet clear that the Lord is caring for you, that He is in all watchfulness over you, that He has let down the strong pinions of His protecting care till they sweep the ground around you, and if you are wise, you will creep up close under His wings, into the very down.” (J.B. Stoney)
I used to think that Psalm 136 was (dare I say it?) boring. I would skip over the second half of each verse when I got to that chapter in my readings. After last February, when Christ began transforming me in the most miraculous way, I read something in a Paul Tripp devotional that changed my whole way of thinking about Psalm 136. I realized that God is telling me 26 TIMES that His steadfast love, His chesed (I love that word), endures forever. I give thanks for that every day, now, and know full well how far it reaches. Or maybe none of us will truly ever know exactly how far it reaches, at least not on this side of heaven.