To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry

God's Love is so big that it cannot be properly put down into words. It can reach us in our brightest moments and in our worst ones.
The story to this song is interesting; The story goes that when Lehman tried to write a third verse to the song the words just wouldn't fall into place. He then thought of a card he had once received that had on it a poem about the love of God. He searched for the card and soon found it. Lehman read the words on the card and his heart was just as thrilled with the poem as the first time he read it. He began to voice the words of the poem with the melody he had composed for his song. They fit perfectly and he knew he had his third verse to his song, "The Love of God."

Lehman noticed at the bottom of the card some smaller but heavier printing. It told the story of the origin of the poem. It told that the poem was found written on a cell wall in a prison some 200 years earlier. It was not known why the prisoner was incarcerated; neither was it known if the words were original or if he had heard them elsewhere.

The poem that became a part of this song is the third stanza (my favorite part).

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

(Chorus:) Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink
the ocean fill,
And were the skies
of parchment made,
Were every stalk
on earth a quill,
And every man
a scribe by trade;
To write the love
of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll
contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

-Frederick M. Lehman