WILD LOVE!

In church last Sunday we were singing the golden oldie "Praise my soul the King of Heaven". Whilst trying to engage in worship, however, I found myself distracted by a small typo which made the widely look much more like wildly!!!!! God speaks in ways we can hear and understand and as I was contemplating this typo he did just that! I was reminded of God's incredible, all encompassing, passionate love and the wonderful privelege of being able to praise him!

Jesus' love towards us is so wide, we cannot escape it. Psalm 139 says, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Jesus' love towards us is so wide. It covers all our sin, all the rubbish, from beginning to end. His mercy is wide enough to cover it all! His love is so vast we cannot escape it! Wherever we go, he will come and find us. Even if we try to run away, He will find us and bring us home!

Not only is his love wide, it is also wild!!!!! Song of songs puts it like this "Your love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave. Love flashes like the brightest kind of fire. many waters cannot quench love, neither can rivers drown it". His love is jealous, wild, like a violent wind or a raging fire! He is not satisfied when we forget him. He loves us wildly, passionately, he is not content for us to worship another, and so he jealously comes to win us back to himself.

As his love towards us is wide and wild, so too our praise of him should be. As the song says, "he deserves the highest praise we can give AND MORE!" As we praise him, his mercy is released to us and through us to those around us, and as we experience his mercy we praise him all the more. How amazing to be loved by one whose love is so vast, so relentless and what a privelege to join together in vast and violent praise of our wonderful loving father!