a wideness in his mercy

From time to time a song will take my mind hostage for a few days. I'll find myself humming the tune when I wake up in the morning, thinking about the lyrics at various moments throughout the day, and often singing it to my kids as I put them to bed at night. Sometimes I find that it is the Lord who put the song there, and that it may even be his voice singing to me in my head, comforting me and caring for me by means of the music. I wanted to pass on the lyrics to a song that the Lord has been using in this way over the past week. It is the handiwork of Rich Mullens, a singer-songwriter whose music has often taken (or been used to take) my mind hostage, particularly when I have been in need of healing:

There's a wideness in God's mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Now I've seen no band of angels
But I've heard the soldiers' songs
Love hangs over them like a banner
Love within them leads them on
To the battle on the journey
And it's never gonna stop
Ever widening their mercies
And the fury of His love

Oh the love of God
And oh, the love of God
The love of God

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all Hell could never close
Here I'm tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God