“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.” Psalm 52:8

The Love of God

The love of God is a thing I have heard about from my earliest days. Jesus loves me, this I know. And yet I feel that love is so much more than anything we have yet comprehended. We use the word love so lightly and so flippantly. Often it is an insubstantial, airy sort of word that speaks of kindness, sentimentality, and a sweet gentleness that meets our own whims and happiness.

I think we are learning love all the days of our lives. As we age, as we experience love in its many forms, our definition deepens. We love our mamas, we love our dog, we love pizza, we love that virile young man who sits next to us in biology class. Some of us have loved a husband over the years and have seen how that love has evolved from starry-eyed wonder to a strong and enduring love that weathers both sunshine and storm. Some have given birth to tiny humans who have stolen our hearts away. Now love becomes willing to sacrifice, to be weary and sleep-deprived, and to give up our own pleasure to ensure the well-being and safety of this child. Love is expressed in the care given an elder who, once strong, is now weak and needy. Love goes the second mile, love serves, and love never gives up. Love lays down life itself for a friend. All of this and more is how we see and know love.

But ah, the love of God! The love we know is a mere reflection of that same love He has poured into our hearts. We were made to love and to be loved. God is love. To love deeply and truly is to know God. His love is strong, fierce, and unrelenting. He created us out of His love but we refused Him. We are fallen, broken, twisted, and helpless.

Thus Love became man so that man could again know the love of God and love Him in rapturous response. Jesus paid that price for us and thus showed us the profound essence of unadulterated love. And now that bright and burning love of God continues to work in us to change us from what we are to what He would have us be—to be holy as He is holy. He created us in His image and He is remaking us in His image even now.

His love will do whatever is necessary to complete the good and perfect work He has begun. Our Father in heaven is no permissive parent. He will not spare us pain if pain is needed to perfect us. His love will not compromise in allowing cancerous and destructive behaviors in our lives. His love will not grant gifts that would sidetrack us, delude us, or deceive us no matter how we plead for them. He guards us and keeps us in that place of going deeper, knowing Him more. C.S. Lewis says, “That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we think we want.”

And at the same time He showers us with blessings, insights, victories, and wonders that leave us breathless and hungry for more of Him. This love is all-consuming and wholly good. I think perhaps we will be discovering and delighting in His great love for endless ages. We cannot yet fathom the pleasures that He has in store for us. “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy: at Your right hand are pleasures forever more” (Psalm 16:11). Ah, the love of God!

Father, Your love overwhelms us and we are undone. This love is more than we can grasp, but what we have experienced has changed us forever. You are beautiful in all Your ways. From these humble hearts we whisper back our love for You. Amen.