Ephesians chapter 3 has one of the most beautiful illustrations of the love of God in the entire Bible. First, I have to preface that statement with the fact that I’m a former supply chain manager who was tasked with scheduling truckloads of food for delivery to restaurants. Space was always at a premium and I was always finding new ways to maximize the space I was given. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives an invitation to pray for the strength to understand the size and depth of the love of Yeshua.
“I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim [saints] what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God.”
—Ephesians 3:17b-19
In challenging times like we find ourselves in right now, the one comfort we can have is that God loves us the same as He did when things were “normal.” I know from my shipping days that the capacity of a container is not going to change. I can only fit more of something by emptying the container of something else. We learn from Scripture that God’s love is vast and limitless:
The Width of His forgiveness is “as far as the east is from the west, so far He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
The Length of His sacrifice encompasses the whole world: “He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
The Height of His mercy is limitless: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11).
Simply, the Depth of His love can’t be contained! “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Today, we need as much of the Lord’s love as possible to strengthen us! His love has no limits, so the question is, how much room have we given Him?
For the past nine weeks, as the coronavirus upended the world with fear, stay-at-home mandates, financial loss and isolation, we’ve turned to Scripture for the hope we each need to endure rough times.
Ancient Israel had a hope: to return to the Land God had promised to give her. Yet, she had been in exile in Babylon for so long that I’m sure the hope of many began to wane, if not completely disappear.
Our God is the Master Composer. The intricacies He has purposefully arranged on His grand scale of time are often indistinguishable to the human ear, unless we strain to hear. As we journey through the story of Ezra-Nehemiah in the days ahead, listen in for a pattern, a 3-part harmony, as God composes another movement in His song through the mouths of His prophets. See if you can make out the sounds.
The words God gave to His prophets often told about events in the current time, near future and a time even further in the future. They are always pointing us forward, but what were they pointing us forward to?
