Oh How He Loves Us

God is full of love and compassion towards us. He created us to love us and when we sinned against him and our sins separated us from him, he sent his son to die for our sins, in order to redeem us to himself. We don’t have to work for the love of God or be good enough to qualify for a place in his heart. “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:16). This statement from Isaiah reminds me of when a person gets a loved ones name tattooed on their arm. I am not encouraging anyone to get a tattoo, neither am I saying that anyone who has one is unsaved. I am referring to the emotion which God shows towards us. His love towards you is so deep, that he carved your name in his palm.

That thought made me smile and reminds me of how God keeps us as the apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). This statement refers to someone or something that a person cherishes above anything or anyone else. God chose you before the foundations of the world and he has placed his purpose and destiny within you. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). You are not an accident but the divinely orchestrated plan of God, created for honour and good works which God ordained before time. Nothing that we have done or will ever do catches God by surprise and none of it changes his mind about us.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). God is with us when we are hurting and David said that he is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). God longs to comfort and restore you and he wants to heal you where it hurts. It is religion and man made philosophies that cause us to think that God wants to punish us. Even when a child makes a mistake, a parent lovingly corrects, but their love does not change towards their child.

Remember that God loves you and he cares for you. He hurts when you are hurting and he has compassion for your pain and discomfort. Rest in his grace and assurance knowing that he loves you too much to leave you alone. Absolutely nothing can change the way God feels about you.

A.P.-Y.