Monday 21st
1 John 4:19
NIV & ESV – ‘We love because he first loved us.’
Jesus has promised my Shepherd to be.
Scott Lawrence – RH618
I add in here also from 1 John 4:10 ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to know that you are loved, be it the love of a parent, child, friend or a partner, they know everything there is (or most things) about us and yet they love us! It is the same with God’s love toward us, he knew everything about us, right down to the minutest of detail and yet he loved us, as we learned from a hymn a few days ago, with an everlasting love. The love that we receive from others is often dependent on the fact that we also love them, but God loved us before we ever came to love him, before we even had any thought of him, or any inclination to be concerned about him, that is love. Love that is so immense and so powerful that he loved the most unloveliest of human beings that have ever lived or may yet ever live on planet earth, he loved so much that he sent or gave his only Son to be the propitiation for our sin, that we may come to know his love and in return to love him back. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16)
In our hymn for today, the composer is portraying the beautiful picture of Jesus as the Shepherd who has loved us enough not only to die for us but, loves us enough to be our Shepherd and to care for us as we have come to love him in return and to be with us as we sojourn through life and into eternity. It is a great place to be found in, knowing the love of God and being willing to also love him back, it is also a great place to be in knowing the Lord Jesus as our Shepherd, knowing his daily provision and protection. The final line in the chorus part reminds us that he is the greatest companion we can have, ‘When I’m tempted and tried, he is close by my side, that’s why I love him so.’ He is a constant companion, fulfilling the promise he made ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’, it is a daily strength to know that whatever we are faced with, wherever we need to go, whatever we need to do, the One who has loved us, will lead us, will cheer us, will be with us. ‘That’s why I love him so’.
‘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.
O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—The saints’ and angels’ song.
Jesus has promised my Shepherd to be,
That’s why I love him so;
And to the children he said, “Come to me,”
That’s why I love him so.
That’s why I love him, that’s why I love him,
Because he first loved me;
When I’m tempted and tried, he is close by my side,
That’s why I love him so.
He the weak lambs to his bosom will take,
That’s why I love him so;
Never will he for a moment forsake,
That’s why I love him so.
He has in heaven prepared me a place,
That’s why I love him so;
Where I may dwell, by his wonderful grace,
That’s why I love him so.