Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On a recent vacation, I had the privilege of exploring the ocean, the vast ocean. Its immensity was hard to fathom. I could not wrap my mind around it. How vast is the ocean?

I was near the ocean relaxing at the beach listening to the happy sound of people playing with the rhythmic splash of gentle waves as background music. I noticed that the ocean went on as far as the eye could see, and the large group of people on that beach was infinitesimal in comparison. How vast is the ocean?

I was on the ocean. I was on a ship and every morning I would go to the fantail with my coffee and croissant for my devotion time. I rarely focused on the book I brought for study. I looked out over the ocean, realizing that this floating hotel that I was aboard was a speck compared to the enormous body of water upon which it was floating. How vast is the ocean?

I was in the ocean. I went scuba diving. At one point, I watched my friends descending into a canyon almost 100 feet below the surface. I floated down behind them into the sizable gap. As we explored the abysses of this one small portion of the ocean, I was overcome with the enormity of it all. How vast is the ocean?

As I reflected on the vastness of the ocean, this old hymn kept running through my mind. “Here is love vast as the ocean… when the Prince of Life, our Ransom, shed for us His precious blood”. This experience led me to praise God. I rejoiced in the fact that I was loved. I realized that I want to daily relax near Him as happy people enjoy His blessedness and His rhythm of life calms and soothes my soul. I know that He will keep me afloat and He cares about me even though I am a speck in the sea of humanity. I look forward to those moments where I can plunge myself wholly into His presence, feeling His love surround and envelop me as I explore the depths of His knowledge and beauty. How vast is the love of God?

My prayer for you (and if you wouldn’t mind, your prayer for me) is “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14–19, ESV) Blessings to you as you contemplate the vastness of God’s love.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21, ESV)