The Love of God | Hymn History & Devotional
History
The history of this hymn spans nearly a thousand years and multiple languages in a story that magnifies the unchanging nature of God. Frederick M. Lehman was born in Germany, but moved to America with his family when he was just four years old. He first met the Lord in Iowa, where he spent most of his childhood. God convicted his heart and drew the 11-year-old child to Himself, and Lehman’s life was never the same. As he later recounted, “The weight of conviction was gone and the paeans of joy and praise fell from [my] lips.”
Lehman studied for ministry and served as pastor in Iowa, Indiana, and Missouri. Throughout his career, he wrote many hymns and sacred songs, giving himself to the artful expression of God’s love. In 1911, he helped found the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, which is still in operation as The Foundry Publishing today. While serving as pastor, he maintained an entrepreneurial spirit, and continued to work as a businessman.
Through unfortunate circumstances, he lost everything in business and found himself working manual labor in a California packing house. Despite his unfortunate turn in circumstances, his faith never wavered. Inspired by a recent sermon, he took every moment of downtime between packing the oranges and lemons, and began to write a love song to the Lord. After two stanzas and a refrain, he was at a loss for words, but there was a problem: songs from that time weren’t considered complete without at least three stanzas.
When he returned home, he began composing the melody for the hymn on his old upright piano. Even so, he was without a third stanza. Then he remembered a poem he had recorded on a small card that he used as a bookmark. He pulled the card out and found the poem fit perfectly with his composition. Then he saw the note written beneath the poem:
“These words were found written on a cell wall in a prison some 200 years ago. It is not known why the prisoner was incarcerated; neither is it known if the words were original or if he had heard them somewhere and had decided to put them in a place where he could be reminded of the greatness of God’s love - whatever the circumstances, he wrote them on the wall of his prison cell. In due time, he died and the men who had the job of repainting his cell were impressed by the words. Before their paint brushes had obliterated them, one of the men jotted them down and thus they were preserved.”
The name of the prisoner was never discovered, but historians later found the source of the poem: it came from a Hebrew poem composed by a Jewish rabbi living in Germany. The poem was written around the year 1,000 as a prelude to The Ten Commandments—a reminder that all of Scripture tells us the story of God’s love.
Devotion
The words of this hymn remind me somewhat of the last two sentences in John’s gospel. He signs off with a note that if all the works of Jesus were to be recorded, the earth could not contain the books that would be written. The love of God, similarly, is indescribable in its magnitude and steadfastness. In truth, the words of the hymn could almost stop with “the love of God is greater far” because there is nothing that God’s love isn’t greater than.
If we know how and where to look for it, we can see his love every‐ where. From the beauty of the world to Him allowing us to breathe another breath, to the community and relationships He gives us— these are all a part of God’s general revelation of His love. But no greater love has been shown to us than that Jesus died for our sin and, as a result, God welcomes us into His family.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for those very first of the Jewish converts to Christianity? This God that they had heard about their whole lives and learned all about how He moved through their ancestors for His purpose now wanted a personal relationship with each one of them. That must have been a huge deal, and probably why almost every New Testament author writes something about being children of God or in God’s family.
The same is true for us today. God doesn’t want to be an aloof creator, managing things from a distance. Through the Spirit, He wants to be a part of our lives, continuing to work in us and through us to accomplish His will and make His love known. That’s a big deal. That means that no matter our circumstance, we are significant. Not to our own ends or for our own purpose, but we are significant because of who God says we are and what He calls us to do.
We could never fully capture or relate the love of God with our own words, but we can continue to live His mission out in our daily lives through the power of Him who is in us. Our words and deeds testify to the love of God far more potently than if we were to record what His love means to us. Remember this today: you are valued and the work we must do is valuable.
Related Scripture
John 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Galatians 4:3-7
The Love of God lyrics
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;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Refrain
Oh love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure,
The saints’ and angels’ song.
When mortal time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quills
And ev'ry man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
