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The Bible isn’t shy in declaring that God loves us.
Just a few examples include: “God is love” (1 John 4:8); “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands” (Ex. 34:6–7); “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You” (Ps. 86:5); “You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth” (Ps. 86:15); “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16); plus the very simple: “He cares for you” (1 Pet.5:7).
And that’s just the tip of the biblical iceberg.
And yet, we oftentimes don’t feel that God loves us. We have all these promises on paper but don’t sense His love. Sure, Scripture talks about salvation one day, but what about now? I’m surrounded by tragedy now. I’m hurting now.
We experience constant disappointments, unanswered prayers, gratuitous tragedies, weaknesses, and failings inside us, with it all becoming overwhelming and soul-crushing at times. Maybe this is why Gordon Conwell theology professor Richard Loveless wrote: “It is an item of faith that we are children of God but there is plenty of experience in us against that.”
Ouch.
Tough to read, but certainly relatable if we’re honest, especially if you’ve faced lots of horror around you. Just listen to Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel describe his experience: “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp … Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of children whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever … Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into dust.”
When you see things like that and then look back on what the Bible says about God loving us, it can be a tough sell to believe it. After all, doesn’t Scripture say, “… let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18, my emphasis)? OK God, you said it, let’s see it.
When we sit in the blackness for a long time, the mind and heart can easily dismiss His promises and leave us in a place where we think: “Yeah, sure, You say You love me. But that’s nothing but words on a page. Meh.”
The biblical reality check
If you’re like me, you’ve been in that dark place more times than you want to admit. Something bad happens and we quickly feel abandoned; pretty much anything but loved.
David felt it — hear what he says in Psalm 69: “I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God” (Ps. 69:2–3).
Can you identify? If so, welcome to a biblical reality check that’s incredibly helpful. Yes, amazingly good things happen to people in the Bible. And pretty bad things happen to them also.
Just like you and me today.
For example, we read: “For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection…” (Heb. 11:32–35).
We look at that and think, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! That’s what I expect from God!” But then our face falls as vs. 35 quickly transitions to:
“… and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised” (Heb. 11:35–39).
Yikes, blech, ick. Who wants that?
And it keeps going. How about God’s chosen man (Paul) for evangelizing the ancient world at that time and writing most of the New Testament? What was his daily life like?
“To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now” (1 Cor. 4:11–13).
Yikes, blech, ick. Who wants that?
But here’s what amazes me about Paul and the people cited in Hebrews 11 — they didn’t fall away from the faith or stop trusting that God loved them, even in times of severe temporal hurt and pain. Notice how that section in Hebrews 11 ends: “And all these, having gained approval through their faith…” All these. The ones who had mountaintop experiences plus those who suffered in the valley.
Just like you and me today. Through faith, we can stand firm just like they did.
Many times, ancient Israel felt abandoned by God just as we do today. In Isaiah, we read: “For the LORD has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me” (Is. 49:13-14).
They, like us now, were thinking the same thing about God’s promises of love and deliverance: “Yeah, sure, You say You love me. But that’s nothing but words on a page. Meh.”
But an interesting thing happens — God answers their charge of abandonment: “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Is. 49:15–16).
The word “inscribed” is an interesting Hebrew term: it literally means to “hollow out” and create a hole in something. Can you think of a time when God had His hand “hollowed out” for you and me to demonstrate the love He talks about for us tangibly?
The second Gospel in the New Testament says simply, “And they crucified Him” (Mark 15:24).
That historical event shows that His love for us is more than words on a page. And so, we’re able to look through every storm to the cross, because it’s through the Gospel that God shows you and me that He loves us.
Let me now return to Lovelace and give you his full quote on this subject: “It is an item of faith that we are children of God but there is plenty of experience in us against that. So, the faith that surmounts this evidence and is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love instead of stealing love and self-acceptance from other sources is actually the very root of holiness.”
What he’s saying is that God’s gift of faith will overcome any existential troubles we experience and result in making us like His Son. And there will be a point where, as A. W. Tozer puts it in a famous essay of his, the ministry of the night begins to end:
“There is a limit to man's ability to live without joy. Even Christ could endure the cross only because of the joy before Him. The strongest steel breaks if kept too long under unrelieved tension. God knows exactly how much pressure each one of us can take. He knows how long we can endure the night, so he gives the soul relief, first by welcome glimpses of the morning star and then by the fuller light that harbingers the morning.”
Wherever you are right now, whatever the difficulties you’re facing, the night will end and through it all He’ll remind you in various ways that His light is on the way. Don’t forget: “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
Evidence that God does NOT love you
We oftentimes don t feel that God loves us We have all these promises on paper but don t sense His love
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