I heard John Mark McMillan's How He Loves for the first time today, and was blown away. I came across it as a cover by David Crowder Band, and read around a bit until I came across the original.
He is jealous for me -
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree;
Bending beneath
The weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory;
And I realise just how beautiful you are,
And how great your affections are for me.Oh how he loves us so,
Oh how he loves us,
How he loves us so.We are his portion -
And he is our prize;
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes,
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking.
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss -
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way
That he loves us so.Oh how he loves us so,
Oh how he loves us,
How he loves us so.I thought about you
The day Stephen died,
And you met me between my breaking.
I know that I still love you God,
Despite the agony.
See people they want to tell me you're cruel,
But if Stephen could sing
He'd say it's not true
Cause you're goodOh how he loves us so,
Oh how he loves us,
How he loves us so.
The song was born out of great pain - McMillan's best friend Stephen died in a car crash the day before he wrote those words. It's a great reminder of the fiercely passionate love of God for us.
I love the concept of God being jealous for me - that God wants me to live within His purposes for me, because He loves me so much that He cannot bear to see the inevitable hurt that results from me living outside of Him. I love too the imagery of breaking under the mercy and the grace of God.
The idea that McMillan would know that fierceness of God in such a broken place is incredible.