You know that amazingly famous-among-the-Christians song, “How He Loves”? Tonight the college group I meet up with each week was singing this particular song. My first thought was, “I love this song, but Joel uses it every week. Does he use it just because it’s popular?” I decided I didn’t care, it’s a good song nonetheless.
We sang the first verse, with my favorite line in the whole song: “All of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.” I always sing this part with a big smile. It’s a good thing, I suppose, to have a lyric really mean something, but I admit I don’t pay attention to the previous lines because I’m looking forward to this one so much.
But then when we sang the first verse again, I finally paid attention to the line “Loves like a hurricane”. I’ve always thought—briefly—“Yeah, God, Your love is so powerful. Really.” But this time I started thinking of an actual hurricane.
I think of the pictures I’ve seen on weather reports with this giant, white circular cloud covering a good part of the ocean. I remember the pictures of the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans. It tore houses up, it flooded the city, people were washed away by this great, powerful force. I’ve always described hurricanes as tornados in the ocean. And I can’t imagine being able to stand firmly in the face of one of these things as it creates winds greater than 70mph. Everything in it’s path is affected by it and everything is weak to fight against it.
That’s how John Mark McMillan describes God’s love: as a powerful force that hits with a huge intensity. Nothing can stand firm against it; it reveals our weakness in one go. And you can’t deny it’s there. It affects everything it comes in contact with. God’s love is so strong.
And I think describing it as a hurricane is an understatement. But it’s such a good visual. God’s love is powerful. It is so, so powerful. Dwell on that for a while.
