There’s a hymn called “The Love of God” that was written in 1917. Our church’s worship leader taught us a new version that mixed the beautiful old words of this hymn with a newer melody. The words of the final verse truly captured my heart, as a writer.
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
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
No matter how many books, articles, stories, poems and devotionals we write, we will never be able to “contain the whole” of God’s love. Have you ever tried to take a photograph of the sunset and only come away feeling discouraged? You desperately want to save the moment before the sun and it’s colors slip away. But, when you try to capture the whole sky in the viewfinder of a camera — you discover that it’s impossible. All you can get is a glimpse — just a corner of the magnificent canvas. Without the rest of the sky, the scene just isn’t as impressive.
And that’s all we get here on earth: a glimpse of His majesty.
Can you just imagine what it’s going to be like when we get to see the whole thing? When we get to see Jesus face to face? When we get to understand the mysteries of the world?
I love the image of us all as scribes, patiently scratching away with our quills at a parchment that reaches across the sky.
I remember reading once about scribes. They sat every day and copied the scriptures, word for word, by hand. Talk about carpal-tunnel syndrome! Can you imagine if you took one of those scribes today and set him in front of a computer? Today we can get the scripture in any language, any version– with just a few keystrokes. (My favorite on-line bible site is http://www.biblegateway.com/. Try it sometime.)
Someone taught me once a great thing to do if your devotional time is getting a little stale. Sit down with a notebook and your bible and write down a familiar chapter of scripture, word for word. Watch how God opens your eyes anew to words you have read many times, but never written. It’s amazing. There is something about writing the words that helps them sink into our soul. Maybe I shouldn’t feel sorry for those scribes of old, toiling away copying scrolls. Maybe they had the best job of all.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12
I forgot about that song–I’ll have to remind our praise team about it. Do you know who wrote the more contemporary melody?
The melody was the same as “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever.” We sang the verses to the hymn in exchange for the verses in the contemporary song and then used the chorus, “I will sing of your love forever…” between each one.
Our worship leader always talked a little about they words of the hymn. There are so many old words that it was nice to have someone explain what they meant for the younger crowd.
I’m not sure who created this arrangement, but I could ask our worship leader, if you’d like to credit them.