Psalm 103:11-18, Prayer for God’s Fullness (3)

Paul’s prayer for strength in the inner man has the day-by-day effect of Christ being more and more at home on the throne of our lives.  The Christ we are talking about is the One who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).  So we now ask, what will it mean having this most loving Savior to be dwelling in us?

What is to be accomplished by fulfillment of this request?

When the believer is more accustomed to the presence and reign of Christ in his life, he becomes more accustomed to the life of love that is the Christian life.  We have been rooted and grounded in love; but as we go through life we are surprised time and again as we see that love of Christ displayed in and through us.  This is a love that we could never imagine or be taught in school.  It only comes through life’s experiences, as we come to see love in all its dimensions.

·       His love is wide, extending to every person, in every circumstance.  We may think that some people deserve to be hated by God because they hate God, until we see a person like that come to bow his knee to Christ, receiving Him as their Savior.  We learn that God’s blessings fall on the just and the unjust.  Even the tax collector and the prostitute are loved by God.

·       His love is long, extending for a long time.  We find that the Scriptures are true when God describes Himself as “longsuffering” (Ex. 34:6).  Christ extended love until the very end of the life of the thief on the cross.  His love for Israel endured much grumbling and complaining, and in the end, will even endure their rejection of the Messiah.  He drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love (Hos. 11:4).  His love is an everlasting love. 

·       His love is high, with extreme sacrifice.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13).  While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).  The epistle to the Hebrews demonstrates this high love, how God became one of us that He might be our High Priest, while at the same time being our sacrifice, the Lamb of God! 

·       His love is deep, for the deepest need.  In love God reach into the depths of the sea to show His mercy to Jonah (Jonah 2:6), who then showed His mercy to the lost people of Nineveh (Jonah 4:11). 

Todays reading from Psalm 103 emphasizes this love of God, in its height (v11), width (v12), depth (v13) and length (v14-18). 

Here is the point.  We are rooted and grounded in love.  But it takes a lifetime for us to come to comprehend the truly great love of Christ.  Even the Gentiles, having no hope and without God in the world have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:12-13).  But still, this is not the end result of this prayer.