Song of Hope

Song of Hope

All things bright and beautiful you are
All things wise and wonderful you are
In my darkest night you brighten up the skies
A song will rise

I will sing a song of hope sing along
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down
Just to know that you are near is enough
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down

All things new, I can start again
Creator God, calling me your friend
Sing praise my soul to the maker of the skies
A song will rise

I will sing a song of hope sing along
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down
Just to know that you are near is enough
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down

Oh sing a song of hope, sing along
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down
Just to know you and be loved is enough
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down

Halle-lujah sing
Halle-lujah sing
Halle-lujah sing

(I will) sing a song of hope sing along
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down
Just to know that you are near is enough
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down

Oh sing a song of hope, sing along
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down
Just to know you and be loved is enough
God of Heaven come down, Heaven come down

--Song of Hope, Robbie Seay Band


I'm continually amazed at the depth with which my God can love me.... the personal way He reaches me and lets me know He is there.
Yesterday was kind of a weird day at church. It was the last in a four part series on the four types of love-- Storge (familial), Philia (friend), Eros (Romantic), and finally Agape.
Modern psychology tells us there are three natural loves, but the Bible speaks of four-- and any Christian who has spent more than a day in church is familiar with Agape love and aware of it, so I was expecting to be... placated. Maybe a little bored.

Instead, I got a heavy dose of brokenness and a renewed vision of what my salvation means and how good my God really is. Unlike the four previous sermons, which were excellent, wise, and practical, this one knocked me flat on my butt as He described what Agape love is, what it really means when we hear "God is love," and how to grasp what that means for us and for Him.

I was particularly moved when it came time to examine the truth of the situation. None of us, by ANYTHING, can add one thing to God, who is perfect and complete. It's easy to think that He made us because He needed some part of Him fulfilled or completed. It's easy to think He needed the companionship. But the fact is-- He doesn't. He is Lord, God of all, and He experiences perfect companionship within Himself because He is complete... Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was not lonely or bored--- He was LOVE.

And the kind of love He was and is and will be is the kind that, by human standards, makes no sense. It's the kind that needs no return. It's the kind that loves your enemies-- those who hurt you. I thought back on all the times I snapped at Wayne because he hurt my feelings, or stopped talking to someone because they wronged me in some major way. God would have loved them anyways! I thought of all the times, even in the previous week, when someone frustrated me and I breathed a sigh of relief that I could just write them off.

In this train of thought, it really brought home to me the fact that we DESERVE nothing but hell. That when Jesus returns and we are on our knees, we will VOLUNTEER for hell when we face His holiness-- as He is. That over and over again in the Bible those who caught a glimpse of His glory were forever changed by it.
It reminded me that when we lift Him up in worship, we are not doing ANYTHING to Him-- we are doing it because it puts US in right mind TOWARDS the God of the universe who created heaven and earth, who breathed us to life and whose eyes go to and fro across the earth. It absolutely floored me to face the reality of the choice I made when I said YES to God: The love that I needed to give was not NATURAL, which is why an "enemy" was so hard to "love."
And when we love them, we are allowing God, who lives in us, to work. Amazing! How has this profound truth not affected me more until now?? It makes me think what a shallow Christian life I was living until yesterday.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't know until yesterday that I was supposed to love my enemies, or that I was supposed to be kind to those who frustrate the hell out of me.... it's that I finally understood WHY.


Recently, a friend called and asked me to explain to her just what in the heck was the matter with me, recommending the book "Created to Be His Helpmeet" to people.
Any wife who has read it has been challenged to the core by the things therein--- the biblical challenge to love, serve, respect and honor your husband NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES. (yes, occasionally you may have to put him in jail, or move out, but you must still honor, serve, and respect and love him.)
Everyone who reads it has a strong reaction: either they tear it to shreds or they frame it and put it on the wall because it changed their lives forever. I'm in the second crowd, but most wives I'm around just can't comprehend it. I like to think that's because they don't have husbands like mine :P When I apply the biblical principles of loving wifedom and servanthood to my marriage, it WORKS... like never before. My marriage becomes glorious.
BUT, there are days where, frought with frustration, I end the evening crying out to God that there MUST be something more. Though I know the principles and how they work, there are many times where, in my fleshly nature, I just don't want to do them. I want to snap back, to throw dishes, to put my foot down. I want to yell and nag and shame him. I wonder WHY on earth God does this to me, when He knows that it is hard-- and that's what I realized yesterday!!!

I never have an answer for people when they ask me WHY God set things up this way. It's the only thing I'm at a loss for-- but now I do. Because God's AGAPE determines His nature, and we are being molded into the image of God, then I must learn to ALLOW Him to respond with a fresh infusion of agape into every situation, starting with my marriage. It's not ME who must respond in love, it's God IN me. If I am grateful for my salvation, then I am grateful for the opportunity to respond to an unfairness in AGAPE.

I'm a fan of the saying: "It's a choice to be offended," but I never realized WHY until yesterday.

From now on, Lord, let me CHOOSE to respond in love... the same love you gave me that snatched me out of hell and into your loving arms. No matter what the wrong, no matter what the cost.... let me always allow you to shine through me.