The Wonder of it All
Wednesday (December 24)
The Wonder of it All
Psalm 130:7
O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
I’m sure you’d rather do without a grammar lesson first thing this morning but let me at least point out the significance of the two adjectives used here in Psalm 130. The words steadfast and plentiful are not filler words. The psalmist isn’t being poetic for poetry’s sake. This isn’t flowery language, but foundational truth. Because what if God’s love for you wasn’t steadfast? What if you knew that Jesus loved you, but you didn’t know the extent of that love or what it was conditioned upon or whether you could somehow let Him down enough that you might lose it? Love is only as strong as the heart behind it. Likewise, what if redemption wasn’t a plentiful gift? What if it was more like a credit line, where you’ve got $5,000 to spend, but once you’ve spent it, you’re in big debt and big trouble? Or what if redemption was in fact permanent, but it wasn’t offered to very many people? What if the gospel of grace was the best-kept secret in all the world because Christ only wanted to reach a select few? See, friend, words like steadfast and plentiful are not overstated but rather understated. They aren’t superfluous to the nouns but rather part of the noun’s definition. When it comes to the immeasurable, unfathomable, unending, unconditional, impenetrable, unwavering, unerring, inexhaustible love of Christ, you’d have to string together every superlative adjective you could find in order to properly herald it, and you’d still fall short.
In case you think I’m just tethering words together now to fill up a word count, consider the testament of one far nearer to Christ and more inspired an author than me, our brother Paul, who wrote this in Ephesians 3:17-19: “That you … may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” I recommend you spend real time today worshipping God for how steadfast He has been in holding you through so many ups and downs, praising Him for how plentiful His redemption of your life has been throughout all the various chapters. When you eventually close your prayer and go on about your day, keep the praises going.