Beloved Because

“I love the Lord, BECAUSE He hath heard my voice… FOR Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling” (Psalm 116:1-8).  “Every word of God is pure:  He is a Shield unto them that put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).  “And He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And He spake that saying openly” (Mark 8:31,32). 

I love the Lord because He first

Had loved me when He heard my voice.
He gave His best and took my worst:
What kind of love would make that choice?!

He rescued me from all my fears;

He saved my soul when death was calling.
Befriending me, He dried my tears,
And still He keeps my feet from falling.

He showed me that His Word is pure,

As prophets clearly have revealed.
His promises He made are sure.
I trust in Him; He is my Shield. 

I come into His sanctuary

And He reminds me why He died:  
To save me this was necessary,
That I might thus be justified.

I contemplate, but can’t exhaust,

The reasons now to love my Savior. 
He saw my need, He knew the cost,
And gave Himself to grant me favor!

I see death’s shadow nearer loom,

But Christ now bids me not to fear:  
He robbed the grave of all its gloom,
And in that valley, He’ll be near.

The time and space does not exist,

On this side of eternity,
To draft the reasons I would list
For loving Christ who first loved me. 

O Lord, envisioning Your love

Is like exploring outer space:
You stretched the heavens out above,
Yet even more, Your saving grace!

Until that day on heaven’s shore

When You shall gather all Your own,
O consecrate me more and more
To make my cause to love You known.