Songs of the Saints: Oh The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

Hymn by Samuel Trevor Francis

Devotion: Sharlene Scott, Spring Hill Church

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.

Underneath me, all around me is the current of thy love.

Leading onward, leading homeward to my glorious rest above.

2. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Spread His praise from shore to shore!

How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, never more.

How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all his own;

How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne.

3. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Love of every love the best;

“Tis an ocean vast of blessing, “Tis a haven sweet of rest,

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ‘Tis a heaven of heavens to me,

And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee.

Many years ago, a depressed teenager, was walking on a bridge overlooking the Thames River in London. He was having serious doubts about his faith. But that was when God showed up. As he looked at the scene around him, he saw the power of God at work.

The young man, Samuel Trevor Francis was changed completely. He went home and wrote the moving lyrics, because he had seen the deep, deep love of Jesus.

He wrote, using much imagery in his song, especially about water. In the first line, he refers to the love of Jesus, as “vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.” The love of Jesus is so vast, it can’t be measured, so boundless and free that we can never be anywhere that His love is not seeking us. Wherever we are, “as a mighty ocean”, his love rolls in its fullness over us.

This may remind us of the experience of baptism, as the love of Jesus washes away our sins, and we are completely in the presence of God. He really is, as Francis wrote, “all around me.” Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand” (Matthew 4:17). No matter where you are, your hand is right there, and so is the love of Jesus.

The song speaks of Jesus as “underneath me” as well. This reminds us of the promise in Deuteronomy 33:27 that “underneath are the everlasting arms.” That is a precious verse to me. On the night before my late husband Paul entered the hospital for what turned out to be the last time, he was on the phone with our pastor’s wife, and she prayed for him, asking God to support him with his everlasting arms. After the call, he was crying, and asked if I had noticed that there were hands beneath him lifting him up. He felt, that night, the reality of those everlasting arms.

This same Jesus, “changeth never, never more”. He “watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all his own”; and “for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne.”

How do we respond to a deep, deep love like this? We need to “spread his praise from shore to shore.” Let’s make sure we do that. This is, as the song reminds us, “love of every love the best.” And that love will, “lift (us) up to glory for it lifts (us) up to Him.”