This past week, I was talking with one of my friends about the songs that have impacted me the most throughout my years with being committed to God. One of the craziest experiences that I received was when I heard the song "How He Loves Us" by John Mark McMillan. The lyrics are compelling, and the story is overwhelming. Not only that, but the song brings so many visions into your head that stick to your mind and your heart. I was inspired to view the story on Youtube.
The songwriter, McMillan, stated that the word "love" has become very simple nowadays. In other words, it is very easy for us to say that we love something. We say it every day! I love a cheeseburger, or I love my dog. I love this job, or I love my family. For him, it was difficult to write a song about love because he needed to go deeper into what it really meant. It is difficult for us to write a true song, poem, or to talk about true love. We hear love songs every day that are inspired by people that their emotions change from time to time, but are not genuine. In other words, if their feelings toward someone change from time to time, then it wasn't really "love" in the first place. It was an emotion, crush, or a physical attraction.
He went on to explain that one of his friends during that time died in a car accident, which brought pain, grief, and sorrow into his heart. That friend really meant a lot to him, and he was upset toward God. For him, songwriting was how he expressed his thoughts and emotions. Little by little, as he continued to push forward, the song "How He Loves" came about. The song has been song through many churches around the world, and no matter how much we age or grow in God, the song's impact on the hearts of people will remain powerful as it is. He says that he can't think of how through our pains, sorrows, frustrations, and anger, that God loves us unconditionally, uncontrollably, and genuinely. It is amazing how even when we stray from God, he doesn't stop loving us with a fiery passion. That passion is just what the song expresses.
The song begins with the lyrics, "he is jealous for me; he loves like a hurricane; I am tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy." When he says that, I can just imagine a hurricane the size of Katrina, or Andrew. I can imagine the winds blowing fierce through the rooftops of a house wanting to shatter it down. I can imagine trees descending down the floor, just like we see in weather channels or in documentaries that reflect the power of hurricanes. This is exactly what the song describes. He loves just like that. He loves us, and we are trees that we bend and descend to our knees as a result of his winds.
It ends with the lyrics, "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that he loves us." It's incredible how many times we've made mistakes, or we've let God down. How many times have we wanted to surrender it all and just lay it all on the mat? Yet, this song empowers us to remember just how much he loves us despite all of that. He loves us. He always has. He still does, and he always will. He'll never stop.
