You may already know the God of love, but if not, I would like to introduce Him to you. He is the almighty God of the universe who is seated upon a glorious throne in the beautiful heavenly city called the New Jerusalem. Surrounding Him are ten thousand times ten thousand of holy angels.
Seated at His right hand is His only-begotten Son, a beloved Son born in the express image of His Father. God the Father and His Son created all the worlds, including our own. They made it as beautiful as their holy minds could image, and gave it to the human race to be enjoyed and looked after with loving care.
The beauty around us is evidence of this divine love. And yet, there are thorns and thistles which spoil the beauty. Evil and pain exist to hurt God's children. Why is this?
Is God both good and evil at the same time? Maybe He is placing the good among the bad to deceive us? Or is there another reason why the thorns are on the roses?
It is very strange and sad, but that is another part of the story.....
'God is love' is written upon every opening bud, every spire of springing grass. The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green -- all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy. Steps to Christ p2.
Music -- O Love that will not let me Go Mormon tabernacle choir -- free download.
Story of the hymn below
- Mormon Tabernacle Choir4:56
Story of hymn below
O love that wilt not let me go
The story behind the hymn
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
Copied straight from --
https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2010/08/04/o-love-that-will-not-let-me-go/
by Dane Ortlund - August 4. 2010.
The heart of God yearns over His earthly children...
At age 20 George Matheson (1842-1906) was engaged to be married but began going blind. When he broke the news to his fiancee, she decided she could not go through life with a blind husband. She left him. Before losing his sight he had written two books of theology and some feel that if he had retained his sight he could have been the greatest leader of the church of Scotland in his day.
A special providence was that George’s sister offered to care for him. With her help, George left the world of academia for pastoral ministry and wound up preaching to 1500 each week–blind.
The day came, however, in 1882, when his sister fell in love and prepared for marriage herself. The evening before the wedding, George’s whole family had left to get ready for the next day’s celebration. He was alone and facing the prospect of living the rest of his life without the one person who had come through for him. On top of this, he was doubtless reflecting on his own aborted wedding day twenty years earlier. It is not hard to imagine the fresh waves of grief washing over him that night.
In the darkness of that moment George Matheson wrote this hymn. He remarked afterward that it took him five minutes and that it was the only hymn he ever wrote that required no editing.
O love that will not let me go. Heartening hope for you and me.