Rivers of Grace

I stumbled this morning across a seldom sung verse of a great hymn. The hymn is "Come, Ye That Love the Lord," written by Isaac Watts in 1707. Here is the fourth verse from our hymnal (originally the fifth verse) followed by a verse not printed in our hymnal (originally the sixth verse). I'm including both verses to provide the context.

This mighty God is ours,
Our Father and our Love.
He will send down his heavenly pow'rs
To carry us above.

There we shall see his face,
And never, never sin;
There, from the rivers of his grace,
Drink endless pleasures in.

It is those last two lines that especially attracted my attention today. When God calls us to him above, we shall "drink endless pleasures" "from the rivers of his grace." I love the idea of his grace being as rivers--not as a river, but as rivers. There is so much grace that it cannot be contained in one river but fills up several channels. And it's not just a periodic flow. I imagine several mighty rivers, deep and wide, carrying infinite volumes of water because the flow never stops.

For some reason I keep picturing Iguacu Falls in South America--a massive waterfall system that thunders over nearly two miles of cliffs and falls some 200 feet (photo courtesy Martin St-Amant - Wikipedia - CC-BY-SA-3.0).



Imagine such a river, with a stunning, beautiful, and neverending display of water power. And then imagine several of them. Such are the "rivers of his grace." That grace never ends. It is infinite in its reach, stunning in its power, and awe-inspiring in its beauty. And through that grace, we are offered "endless pleasures" with God above.

This also reminds me of one of my favorite verses of scripture, which also speaks of the grace offered us with God above:

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. [Rev. 7:17]