Reckless Raging Fury

“There's a wideness in God's mercy 
I cannot find in my own 
And He keeps His fire burning 
To melt this heart of stone 
Keeps me aching with a yearning 
Keeps me glad to have been caught 
In the reckless raging fury 
That they call the love of God…”

The Love of God by Rich Mullins, 1985

The above song is one of my favorites. I don’t think Rich Mullins ever did a song I don’t like but this one strikes a chord within my soul. My grandmother was a minister and I grew up hearing about God’s love, salvation, mercy and grace but the life that tossed me about was a striking contrast to what Grandma said was true. Not only was it confusing to a child, it got worse as I got older and saw more of the world and less of what Grandma called truth. The world was a careless, unloving place full of pain and sorrow and God was a concept so far away, I couldn’t fathom His existence on any plain, much less as a loving father. But somehow, that “reckless raging fury” of God’s love found me and pulled me out of the sea of misery that tossed me around for so many years. I can’t tell you how or why without giving the same answers my grandmother did—God loves us no matter what we do, or how we let Him down, and when God calls our name, everything changes.

“’Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,’ says the Lord (Zephaniah 3:19-20).”

All of us feel like outcasts sometimes, and we’ve all done things we are ashamed of but the thing with God is, He has seen every evil thing we’ve done, and He still loves us. God is the only One we never have to prove anything to. We don’t have to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, wear make-up, or do anything to try and impress Him the way we’ve had to do with the people in our lives. God knows the innermost secrets, the hidden things we wouldn’t dare tell a living soul because we know they would kick us to the curb if they knew the real us. But long before we come to the point of confessing our sins to God and accepting Christ as our Savior, He already knew our innermost secrets and the darkest thoughts we’ve had. Yet, He doesn’t care. He loves us anyway, with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and the wideness of God’s love is immeasurable, incomprehensible, unbelievable, and all-encompassing. His compassion for us is beyond measure and His love is truly a “reckless, raging, fury” because there are no lengths He will not go to, no depths He will not sink to, and no sin He will not forgive in order to have us by His side.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).”

Read Ecclesiastes 5-7

Weekend reading Ecclesiastes 8-11

 © 2018 Marie McGaha