This Blog entry will be focused on the incredible chorus of this song.
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
The adjectives preceding “love” are amazing as I stop and digest this one line. I believe that being overwhelmed is usually, although not always, used in a somewhat negative context. We are overwhelmed with personal issues, overwhelmed with the amount of work we have to get completed in a specific period of time, overwhelmed due to health issues, overwhelmed with family demands, or perhaps just life in general. It is on these days that are overwhelming that we just want to hide somewhere, just to escape for a while! These are the times we need to stop and remember that God doesn’t immerse us in problems or battles, he immerses us in his love and in his power. Psalm 46:1-2 tells us “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”
Though it is hard to let go and look for that peace we need, God is there to overwhelm us with his strength and his support. He is the peace in the midst of the storm. No matter what we have done, God’s arms are always open to us. He feels our pain and perhaps cries tears along with us as he comforts us. His love is eternal and unconditional. We are told in Psalm 136:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
I believe the most powerful and possibly most misunderstood word in the chorus is reckless as it relates to the love of God. When I think of reckless, I think of a person out of control, moving forward without a plan aka flying by the seat of our pants, maybe just being careless, or perhaps references to my driving. I would have never thought of this as an adjective to describe God’s love. Maybe in our eyes, God’s love is reckless and we haven’t really stopped to think about the things he does and the possible impacts.
He has a plan for our lives from birth to our physical death, so whatever he does is part of a plan. He died for everyone and loves everyone, even though many will never understand his death on the cross nor accept his love. He didn’t expect everyone to love him, but he was willing to put himself out there and suffer the rejection. We would probably not be willing to risk our love in this way since we are not willing to face the rejection. Jesus stated he was the way, the truth, and the life and that the only way to heaven is through him. This seems like sort of a reckless statement, since once again, he opened himself up to criticism from those who do not accept that he is the son of God; yet he put himself out there. God also does not fear guilt by association, he always loves us regardless of what we have done. Others may abandon us in times of need because they are afraid of being linked to us, but God never lets us stand alone and doesn’t care what people think of him. I am glad I have the reckless love of God.
Line two of the chorus has a few interesting aspects as well when it states that this reckless love chases down. I believe he committed to staying with us from the day we were conceived. We come to love God at different ages and sometimes never, but we find in 1 John 4:19,”We love, because he first loved us.” Since he first loved us and his love is eternal, it only makes sense that he will lead us, walk with us, or chase us; whatever we need to get us on the right path. He sees us when we wander off the path and because he loves us so much, he chases us down and helps steer us back to where we belong. He fights for us as he did for the Israelites as they left the bondage in Egypt. He is always there to fight for us or along side us as we face the battles we face with temptation, sin, and despair. He doesn’t give up on us even though we often give up on him. In the parable of the one-hundred sheep in Matthew 18:12-24, when one sheep goes missing, the shepherd goes to find that one sheep. Although ninety-nine sheep were safe and accounted for, the shepherd was concerned about his entire flock. Jesus, who is our shepherd, is there for all of us and is only happy when he has his arms around all of us. We may wander off, but he will be there to pull us back if we let him.
Of our own accord, we would have never been worthy of God’s love and therefore do not deserve his love; Romans 3:10 tells us that none of us are worthy. There is nothing we could do to earn his love, no actions we could take, and no sacrifices we could make; yet he still accepted us. By sending his son to die for us, we became the eternal children of God. He knew we would sin, he knew we would make mistakes, he knew we would sometimes ignore him; but the death of Jesus on the cross took away all of our sins from the day we were born to the day we die a physical death. Such is the reckless love of God.