We are back to another downpour devotional in preparation for church camp 07. Many of us struggle to understand God's love for us. Psalm 103 explains how we can know that God loves us.
Several years ago, a student in seminary class stood to his feet and announced to the professor, “I don’t believe in God!” The professor, unraveled, replied, “Describe this God you don’t believe in?” After the student had described an unlovely and vengeful God, the professor confessed, “I don’t believe in that God either. My God is a God of love.”
I. God’s love has always been evident (vv. 8, 11, 13, 17)
How do you describe a rose to a blind person? How do you describe Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus to a deaf person? How do you describe the thrill of dancing free to one who has never walked? How do you describe the impeccable, infinite love of God to impure, finite humans?
One of the most vivid characteristics of God is that He is a God of love. The Psalmist was descriptive in recording the love-nature of God
God doesn’t simply “love,” but He is love itself. Love is not merely one of his attributes, but his very nature. The Scripture say, “We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love” (1 John
II. God’s love-benefits extends to every aspect of our lives (v. 2)
The Psalmist uncovers all the phases of life that God’s love has touched and in turn benefited and blessed the recipient.
- Spiritually, God’s love removes the barrier that separates us from him by cancelling the debt of our sin so that we can enjoy a loving relationship with him (v. 3). God’s love removes our sins as though they never existed. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12 NIV).
- Emotionally, God’s love removes our guilt (v. 3). Much of our physical and emotional illness is due to moral failure. In removing the sin and guilt from our lives God’s love brings healing to our emotional life. And more, it is His love at work in our hearts that keeps the tissues, the organs, the systems in our body from quickly degenerating into bad health. Receive His love and you also receive His healing.
- Eternally, God’s love redeems us (v. 4). The pit the Psalmist refers to is the pit of destruction and death. God’s love rescues us, from our own bent on destruction, and grants us eternal life. Without His love, we would self-destruct - our marriages will fall apart. Our potentials will not be realized. Our lives would have been different.
- Authoritatively, God’s love places a crown of royal glory and authority on us (v. 4). God’s love “has made us kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6 NKJV). We have been crowned with his love and given a new authority and glory!
- Physically, God’s love meets our needs (v. 5). Like a father, he desires to give us good gifts of strength and endurance. Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love came enjoying life, and he wants his children to do the same.
- Judicially, God’s love hates what is wrong and embraces what is right (v. 6). Here we find a major difference between divine love and what so often passes for love among people. Often, love is expressed as that virtue that accepts everything. But, God’s love always makes judgment calls. And, his calls are always just and right.
III. God’s love covers all of our lives.
What do we know of God’s love? We come to learn some important truths regarding God’s love in this Psalm.
- God’s love is all consuming. God’s love touches every part of our life. Nothing—no calling or circumstance, no adversity or advancement, no pain or promotion, no status or station—escapes the brush strokes of God’s love. God’s love bleeds into every fabric and fiber of our lives.
The number of times the three-lettered word “all” is used in this text reminds us that God’s love is all consuming. His love touches every area of our lives. There is nowhere we can go to escape his love. There is no problem that we will encounter that is not touched by his love. There is no advancement that we will make where God is not already there. Even when our world falls apart, we can say, “God, I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t understand it, but I’m sure glad to know you love me.”
- God’s love is personal. The Bible cuts through all the philosophical abstractions and declares that God is a Person. As a personal being God is capable of loving and being loved. God’s love is not simply for mankind as a mass. It is not a sentimental, vague, diffused feeling—something like Charlie Brown’s attitude when he says, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.” God really likes individual people.
Notice the number of times the personal pronouns “me” and “my” are used in Psalm 103.
When God says “I love you,” He is saying that you matter to Him. You are a person of worth. You are valuable to Him. Regardless of what others think, in His eyes you are worthy of His best.
- God’s love is beyond comprehension (vv. 13-14). Amazing, isn’t it? God knows me and still loves me. God knows that I am a sinner, yet He forgives; I am diseased, yet He heals; I am in a pit, yet He pulls me out; I am ungrateful for His good gifts, yet He gives them anyway; and I deserve justice, yet He grants mercy.
Like a father’s love for a wayward and rebellious son that waits anxiously for him to return home so he can grant him a new start, is God’s love for us. It is beyond comprehension.
If you really want to understand love, don’t listen to love songs, or people who throw the term love around. If you want to get to the depths of what it means to love and be loved, look to the cross of Christ, because there God’s love came to mankind. The cross is the ultimate expression of God’s incomprehensible love to mankind.
We are fast approaching the season to experience His downpour of love. Create space in your soul to soak up His love. It will wash away your guilt; heal all your diseases; bring you out of your bondage; crown you with authority and glory and bless you with all His benefits.