Deep, Deep Love

Samuel Trevor Francis

He was a teenage boy at the end of his strength. Questioning his faith, his very life. As the story goes, this night he was on his way home from work. He walked the streets of London and found himself on the Hungerford Bridge. He looked over the rail at the deep dark waters of the Thames River and considered ending his life. He saw relief from his misery in the deep cold water. He was overwhelmed by life and thought that his answer was to allow the waters to overwhelm him one final time.

But there in the dark, something…Someone, spoke to his heart. What he heard was a call to not throw himself into the deep darkness to be swallowed up. Rather a call to throw himself into the immeasurable, deep, deep love of Jesus.  He listened and it changed his life forever.

This young man named Samuel Trevor Francis went on to write the lyrics to a powerful hymn. He would serve his Lord in ministry for the next 73 years until his death in 1925. Read the words below  and ponder how God turned this desperate young man’s  end into a new beginning. Then consider that God invites you to experience that same deep love.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

I invite you to enjoy this rendition of the song by Selah.