The Love of God and Hope

We can't live without hope.Today’s devotional reading by James Montgomery Boice led me down a rabbit trail and on a Google search. In it he quoted several stanzas from the hymn, “The Love of God,” and some of its history. What I didn’t realize was that my favorite portion has its roots in an 11^th century Hebrew liturgical poem, Akdamut, composed by Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Nehorai, a German cantor.  

Were the sky a parchment made
A quill each reed, twig and blade
Could we with ink the oceans fill,
Were every man a scribe of skill,
The marvelous story
Of God’s great glory
Would still remain untold;
For he, Most High,
The earth and sky
Created alone of old.

Centuries later F.M. Lehman wrote “The Love of God” in 1917, including the verse well-known to Christians. However, he never took credit for this stanza because it belonged to another. A man in an insane asylum, and one who was familiar with the Akdamut, scrawled these words upon the wall of his room with a pencil, words found after his death:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky. 

I think about mental illness from time to time. My father was manic depressive, now termed bipolar. Schizophrenia has gripped my brother and tormented him since his late 20s. He is now 63. I have known depression periodically during my sixty years of being on this earth.

What the history of my favorite part of this hymn tells me is that one can have emotional and mental disorders and still know and experience the love of God. My father did. My brother does. And I do. But I want to know His love more deeply.

The words of this hymn took my breath away when I first heard it sung by Mark Webb in the early 80s. It still takes my breath away. And the man in the asylum? I’m sure it took his breath away as well. And gave him hope. 

(Appreciation to James Montgomery Boice and Mike Ruffin for this rabbit trail.)