31 Days of Trusting Grace - Day 6 - He loves us.

My fingers rest on the keys and I smile to myself.  It's been too long.  Sure, I'm not playing Debussy or Beethoven, but as my hands shift to find just that right combination of black and white my heart dances a little bit.  And the melodies rise with the hands in the auditorium and between breaking the bread and sipping the cup, we sing.  We, a broken people trying to sip the sweet nectar of abundant life, we sing it free: Oh, how He loves us so.  And I bow my head over the keys, praying that those words are not lost on me.

I mean, it's become a standard part of my prayers, "God you are so good, and we are so loved."  But I don't want to miss the true grandeur of that statement.  This God who spread the stars out in the sky, who took down the walls of fortresses with the praises of His people, who healed the blind and made the lame walk... He.  Loves.  Us.  And it can almost sound trite in its simplicity, but it is the most profound idea in all of time and space.  He loves us.  And not only that, He is jealous for us.  His desire is for us.  This God, that has power over death and life, put on flesh, and stepped down from heaven to win our hearts.  And that courtship?  That courtship took Him to the Cross.  He loves us.

And I want to go on.  I want the words to keep coming, but they won't.  It's as if my soul is rebelling.  Rebelling against the rush and the forward push of it all, and saying, "No.  This place is good.  Let's just rest here awhile and root down deep.  Let's breathe it in.  Soak in the wonder of it.  Marvel at the mystery.  He loves."  So I will.  I will stop here for today and let it flow through my veins.  He loves us.  He loves us.  He loves us!  And that is why I can trust completely.  Not because He is all-powerful, though He is that.  Not because He is all-knowing, though He is that.  But because, in all His supremacy, He chooses love.  Even unto death, He chooses love.  This is solid ground on which I stand.  This is the ocean in which I am sinking and releasing it all.  This is the mind-blowing, paradoxical heart of all we as Christ-followers, as believers, say and do.  He loves us.  Glory and honor be unto His name forever, amen.