The news story was the kind of breathtaking romance you would expect to see on the big screen. Patrick Moberg spotted a stunningly beautiful woman across the crowded Manhattan subway station, but he wasn’t able to reach her. In desperation, Moberg created a Web site (www.nygirlofmydreams.com) and began a search across New York City, looking for the girl whom he had glimpsed only once and yet could not forget. Remarkably, within 48 hours and in a city of 8 million people, Moberg found her: Camille Hayton, a young woman from Melbourne, Australia.

Whenever we hear a tale of outrageous passion, we can’t help but listen, watch, marvel. We’re drawn to the intense emotion, and we’re curious to know what motivates it.

In Psalm 8, the writer is in awe of the overwhelming way God pursued His creation—His people—with zealous love. David took in the exquisite examples of God’s power and reach (“the night sky and . . . the work of [His] fingers—the moon and the stars [God] set in place”) and sat in dumbfounded amazement over how such a powerful God could feel such intimate care for us (vv.3-4): “[Who] are . . . human beings that You should care for [us]?”

When we take an honest look at our brokenness, comparing our ways with the tenacity of God’s extravagant love, we begin to ask: Why would God love us so completely when we are most often so unlovely? Knowing who He is—and who we are—why would God pursue us?

The answer to these questions weaves through every page of the Bible. In a word, it’s love. God loved. And because God loves, God came to us and for us.