Occasionally the Holy Spirit prompts me to dig back in the archives of The Point and pull out an issue that was published previously for use in the day we are living. That is what happened this week. The Lord had not laid anything fresh on my heart and so I found myself searching through past issues and immediately landed on this one from 2003. I’m not sure why the Holy Spirit led me to this specific issue, but nonetheless, this is The Point for this final week of 2007. May God bless you abundantly in the New Year and may we all be spurred on to “good deeds” for Christ!
When was the last time you were at a place in your life where you just weren’t sure of much of anything? Your work? Your ministry? Your calling by God? Your sanity? God’s love? The love of others? Your faith? Oh, yes, you’ve been there and so have I. I have been there very recently and that has prompted me to write about the assurance of God’s love this week. In all of our lives, there are times when we are weak, exhausted, under stress, or physically ill and these are times when Satan takes advantage of us and tries to convince us that God’s love can’t be real.
As I went through a time like this in the past weeks, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse that I learned in one of my Bible study lessons months ago. In Psalm 62, King David seems to have been in a place not unlike the one I described above. He opens this psalm by saying, “ My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” In verse 11, David summarizes the entire psalm in this way, ‘One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.”
Because David was an Israelite, he knew the Scriptures from the time he was a small child. David had learned that God declared His strength over and over throughout history. He would have known of the history that the Israelite nation had with God and the mighty miracles He had performed on their behalf. God had shown his strength on behalf of David over and over again in battle during his reign as king of Israel. David certainly remembered the first time that God’s strength had come to his aid and Goliath fell with only a single stone thrown from David’s slingshot. David knew, without question, that God was strong from simply reading about and experiencing that strength.
When God spoke that He was strong, David heard that message, but he also heard that the Lord was loving. I believe that David “heard” this message with his heart. No matter the state of David’s life, God’s love never departed from him. Yes, David sinned. Yes, David experienced doubt. Yes, David’s family was a complete mess. But God’s love for David never changed.
You and I are not so different from David. It doesn’t matter where we are – physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually—God’s love never changes. He is always loving toward us. Christ didn’t die for us IF we would behave. He died for us in spite of our behavior, in spite of our doubt and our sin. It blows me away to realize that Christ called Judas Iscariot to be one of his chosen 12 disciples, knowing that Judas would betray Him. Knowing that, Jesus never treated Judas differently than any of the other 11. He loved Judas.
Sometimes, my dear friend, we get to a place in our life where we must be reminded that God loves us. There are times when we absolutely must know this above all else! It is the only thing that can bring us through what life hands us OR what we get ourselves into. David goes on to remind us in Psalm 63: 3-5 that God’s love is all that will satisfy us. “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”
This is your reminder, beloved, that God’s love never quits, it satisfies completely, and it is available to you in an endless supply. He reveals it in His Word, in His creation, through others who love you, and especially in the salvation that is offered only through Jesus. Drink it in, my friend. There is an abundant supply!!
