He Won't Relent

The other day I got to be present at the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony uniting two dear friends, surrounded by many of my other dearest friends in the world. It's quite an experience, really; for a weekend, every couple of months or so (more often in the summer, because wedding season) a whole bunch of crazy recent college grads descend upon a city, have a blast with one another for like 3 days, and then go back to life. We celebrate, we catch up, we pray, and then we head back. It's incredible.

I could keep writing about how awesome it is, but none of you really wants to hear that. What I want to reflect on briefly is a line of a song that we sang at this wedding in a time of praise after communion which wrecked me (read: I cried). After communion, the musicians led us in a time of praise that was one of the more powerful moments I have ever been a part of, as the Bride and Groom praised the God who they had just received and who had just united them in this great Sacrament, and their family and friends joined them in this time of praise and thanksgiving. The verse to the song that we were all singing together, a song called "You Won't Relent," goes like this:

"I set you as a seal, upon my heart, as a seal upon my arm. For there is love, that is as strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave. And many waters, cannot quench this love." 

This verse, coming from Scripture (Songs 8:6), is what got me so emotional. As I was in this place, surrounded by so many of the people I love, worshiping the God who had just humbled Himself to be received in flesh and blood, there was no doubt in my mind that there is a God who loves so deeply and intensely that it can only be described as a love so jealous and demanding as to only be compared to the grave, and yet is stronger than the grave.

Think of that line. The love of God is not just simply a nice, fluffy love. This is not a love which is just kind, and caring. It's not a love that it just a kind sentiment or a nice word. No, this love is SO MUCH more. This love is so jealous, so demanding, so unquenchable that it took on the grave and it won. This is a love that is as strong as death, but more than that-it's STRONGER. This love didn't just take on the grave, it won. And after winning that victory, this God has continued to come after His beloved. He will never stop searching out the ones He loves simply because He loves us.

The refrain of that song says "You won't relent until you have it all, my heart is yours." His love won't stop, He won't stop, until He has my whole heart. As I prayed in that Church, I knew this to be true. Even when life isn't perfect, I can never lose sight of the fact that His love is stronger than death, that His love will continue to come after me and seek me out in all of my imperfection and brokenness, His love will not abandon or betray me but will come after me with a jealousy as demanding as the grave, defeating death so as to give me new life.

What a gift.