The Love of God

God is love. Most of us are familiar with that phrase but may not know its source. In his first letter, the apostle John wrote of God’s symbiotic relationship between God and love.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. – 1 John 4:7-8 NLT

According to John, God doesn't just express love, He is the essence of love. Only His love is pure, undefiled, free from sin, and unsullied by selfish or self-serving motivations. In his first letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul provides a better understanding of the kind of love God displays.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. – 1 Corinthians 14:4-8 ESV

Humanly speaking, this kind of love is impossible to produce. We may be able to manufacture a love that somewhat mimics these qualities but only God can produce a love of this quality because it flows from His very nature. John went on to describe the greatest expression of God’s matchless love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. – 1 John 4:9-10 NLT

In his gospel account, John records the words of Jesus as He spoke of the unparalleled nature of God’s love

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 NLT

The apostle Paul echoed this sentiment in his letter to the believers in Rome.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

To say that God is love is to express the idea that love is the core component of His character. Everything He does is loving and kind. There is never a point at which God is lacking in love or fails to display love. We may not always recognize God’s love or feel that the circumstances of our lives are an expression of His love, but at no point is God unloving. He never stops loving because it is the essence of who He is. When addressing the people of Israel, the nation He had chosen as His own, God declared His unfailing and unwavering love for them.

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
    With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” – Jeremiah 31:3 NLT

His love for them never failed, despite their repeated rebellion and sinfulness. He punished them for their sins but He never stopped loving them because His love is everlasting. As human beings, we find it easy to fall in and out of love with people. But God does not suffer from that fickle kind of love. Frederich M. Lehman wrote about God’s unfailing love in his hymn, The Love of God.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song – Frederick M. Lehman, The Love of God, 1917

Love is not some feeling or outward expression that God conjures up in response to something or someone lovely or loveable. No, what sets God apart is His capacity to love at all times. His love never fails.

God is the very definition of love, and all His other attributes are infused and closely intertwined with His love. His power is always displayed in love. His love never lacks the strength or energy to express itself. God’s holiness is directly linked to His love. Without love, His holiness or set-apartness would make God unapproachable and unknowable. But because God is love, He has made Himself available to and accessible  by mankind.

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse… – Romans 1:20 NLT

Luke supports Paul’s conclusion, stating that God “did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17 ESV). He goes on to describe how God, the all-powerful creator of the universe, has lovingly and graciously made Himself known to mankind.

From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. – Acts 17:26-27 BSB

God desires that men might know Him. Why? Because it is through a knowledge of God that men recognize His love for them. The love of this all-powerful, holy, and transcendent God caused Him to send His Son as payment for mankind’s sins.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 ESV

Jesus, the Son of God, was the greatest expression of God’s love, taking on human flesh and coming to earth so that He might be Immanuel – God with us.

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. – John 1:18 NLT

Jesus even made the bold claim, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9 NLT). God’s love was manifested or made visible through the birth, death, and resurrection of His Son.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. – Ephesians 1:4 NLT

Love is invisible to the human eye, but that doesn’t mean it is unperceivable. And while God Himself cannot be seen, His love can be experienced and appreciated. It can be felt, enjoyed, relished, and returned. When we understand just how much God loves us, it creates in us a desire to love Him in return.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. – 1 John 4:10 NLT

It is when we understand that the God of the universe loves us that we are able to express love to the rest of humanity, whom He has made.

We love each other because he loved us first. – 1 John 4:19 ESV

But our love will always pale in comparison to that of God. His love is infinite and holy, while ours is limited and marred by selfishness and self-centeredness. We tend to love, expecting love in return. Ours is a conditional kind of love, while His is unconditional, demanding nothing from us in return.

“No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God’s love, or any mind comprehend it: it “passeth knowledge” (Eph 3:19). The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it.” – John Brine, 1743

What makes God’s love so remarkable is that He showered it on us despite us. He didn’t demand that we get our spiritual act together. He didn’t require that we stop sinning and start living righteous lives before He would love us. No, according to the apostle Paul, God loved us while we were mired in the midst of our sinfulness and rebellion against Him.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:6-8 NLT

We find it difficult to relate to that kind of love because we tend to love the lovely and loveable. We put conditions on our love. And we demand that those we love show us love in return. But, fortunately for mankind, that is not how God operates. God’s love is a purely holy love. “God’s love is not regulated by caprice, passion, or sentiment, but by principle. Just as His grace reigns not at the expense of it, but “through righteousness” (Rom 5:21), so His love never conflicts with His holiness” (A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God).

God’s love is always sacrificial and constantly beneficial. And while it may sometimes take the form of tough love, it always results in our good. As the proverb states, “the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12 NLT). His love is never smothering or manipulative. It is not a controlling kind of love. At no time does God preface His love with the thought, “What am I going to get out of this?”

The list of love’s qualities found in 1 Corinthians 13 spells out the nature of God’s love in terms we can understand and emulate. But unlike God, we are incapable of expressing this kind of love perfectly and selflessly this side of heaven.  Yet, as we grow to understand the incredible nature of His divine love for us, we can better appreciate how undeserving we are and turn that unmerited affection into tangible expressions of love for others.

God loves you. How much? He sent His Son to die for you. And there are not enough words in the human vocabulary or days on the calendar to fully describe just how great His love truly is. Frederick M. Lehman put it so eloquently in his great old hymn, The Love of God.

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky – Frederick M. Lehman, The Love of God, 1917

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Diminishing God’s Glory by Disregarding His Love

22 “Behold, God is exalted in his power;
    who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed for him his way,
    or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

24 “Remember to extol his work,
    of which men have sung.
25 All mankind has looked on it;
    man beholds it from afar.
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
    the number of his years is unsearchable.
27 For he draws up the drops of water;
    they distill his mist in rain,
28 which the skies pour down
    and drop on mankind abundantly.
29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
    the thunderings of his pavilion?
30 Behold, he scatters his lightning about him
    and covers the roots of the sea.
31 For by these he judges peoples;
    he gives food in abundance.
32 He covers his hands with the lightning
    and commands it to strike the mark.
33 Its crashing declares his presence;
    the cattle also declare that he rises.

1 “At this also my heart trembles
    and leaps out of its place.
2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice
    and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
    and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4 After it his voice roars;
    he thunders with his majestic voice,
    and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
    he does great things that we cannot comprehend.” – Job 36:22-37:5 ESV

Elihu now shifts the focus of his argument away from Job and onto God. He has not given up on leveling his indictment against Job, but has simply taken a new tactic. By emphasizing the transcendence of God, Elihu hopes to shame Job into submission. What right does this groveling and grumbling man have to expect an audience before the God of the universe? Elihu wants Job to understand that his incessant demands for justice from God are a waste of time and breath.

“Look, God is all-powerful.
    Who is a teacher like him?
No one can tell him what to do,
    or say to him, ‘You have done wrong.’” – Job 36:22-23 NLT

Elihu’s theology promoted a God who was above reproach and beyond man’s capacity to understand. How dare a mere mortal like Job shake his fist in the face of the Almighty and demand restitution and restoration. God owed Job nothing, and all of Job’s petty and self-pitying pleas were having no impact on the One who had bigger fish to fry. Instead of bombarding God with a barrage of questions and calls for an inquest, Job would be better off praising His glory and greatness.

“Instead, glorify his mighty works,
    singing songs of praise.
Everyone has seen these things,
    though only from a distance.” – Job 36:24-25 NLT

Not bad advice but, once again, it lacks nuance and is being used to shame Job into silence. In essence, Elihu is telling Job to stop complaining and start praising. The truth is, there may be a time when that kind of counsel is called for, but in Job’s case it seems a bit out of place and insensitive. It wasn’t wrong for Elihu to remind Job of God’s glory and to encourage an attitude of praise, but his motivation seems a bit off. Was Elihu interested in the glory of God or in using that topic to shame Job into a confession of guilt? 

Everything he says is correct and in line with the Scripture’s description of God’s nature and character. He manages to paint an accurate likeness of God but everyone of his brush strokes seems to emphasize God’s majesty and transcendence. His portrait of God displays a distant and incomprehensible deity who remains aloof and detached from man. Look closely at Elihu’s use of language.

“Look, God is greater than we can understand.
    His years cannot be counted.
He draws up the water vapor
    and then distills it into rain.
The rain pours down from the clouds,
    and everyone benefits.” – Job 36:26-28 NLT

Yes, God is mysterious and far beyond man’s capacity to understand. His ways are unfathomable and incomprehensible. This great God of the universe is busy managing the details of His vast kingdom and orchestrating everything from the weather to the annual harvests that meet the needs of all men. Elihu’s God is patterned after the pagan deities who were believed to rule over various aspects of nature and who used their domains to exact blessing and judgment on the human race. Notice how Elihu describes God as using nature to either benefit or punish mankind.

“Who can understand the spreading of the clouds
    and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?
See how he spreads the lightning around him
    and how it lights up the depths of the sea.
By these mighty acts he nourishes the people,
    giving them food in abundance.
He fills his hands with lightning bolts
    and hurls each at its target.” – Job 36:29-32 NLT

Elihu then draws the conclusion: “The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger” (Job 36:33 NLT). It is no coincidence that Job some of the losses that Job had suffered were due to “acts of nature.”

Job would have remembered that fateful day when one of his servants arrived with the following news:

“The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” – Job 1:16 NLT

And before Job could process this devastating information, another servant showed up with even worse news.

“Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” – Job 1:18-19 NLT

The “fire of God” and “a powerful wind” were responsible for Job’s losses and now Elihu declares, “the storm announces his indignant anger” (Job 36:33 NLT). What was Job supposed to deduce from this message? What point was Elihu attempting to make?

Elihu answers those questions when he counsels Job to “Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it rolls from his mouth” (Job 37:2 NLT). Elihu is letting Job know that God is not yet done pouring out His judgment. According to Elihu the ongoing presence of pain and suffering in Job’s life was proof of his guilt and evidence of God’s judgment.

Elihu even manages to portray himself as the godly saint who recognizes God’s greatness and responds accordingly.

“My heart pounds as I think of this.
    It trembles within me.” – Job 37:1 NLT

He trembles in awe at the power of God but he is not afraid of judgment because, unlike Job, he had done nothing wrong. It is Job who needs to worry. That is why Elihu counsels him to offer praise and glory the all-powerful God so that the storm of His wrath might subside.

“God’s voice is glorious in the thunder.
    We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.” – Job 37:5 NLT

This seems to be a subtle suggestion that, unless Job confesses his guilt, things are going to increase in intensity. The judgment of God will not relent until Job repents. Elihu is attempting scare Job straight. He is using the inescapable and unfathomable power of God to threaten Job into submission and force a confession.

But nowhere do we hear Elihu speak of God’s mercy and grace. He never mentions the love of God and he never encourages Job to seek hope in the patience and forgiveness of God. Yet, God described Himself in those terms when speaking to Moses in the wilderness.

“Yahweh! The Lord!
    The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.
    I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.” – Exodus 34:6-7 NLT

It was King David who said of God, “O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help” (Psalm 86:5 NLT). He went on to describe God in terms that provide a much-needed balance to Elihu’s one-dimensional view. His words echo the self-disclosure of God Himself.

But you, O Lord,
    are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. – Psalm 86:15 NLT

The prophet, Jonah, who had been commanded by God to “go to the great city of Nineveh” (Jonah 1:2 NLT), was reluctant to take up his commission because he didn’t want to see the Ninevites spared from God’s judgment. God had made Jonah’s commission quite clear: “Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are” (Jonah 1:2 NLT).

When Jonah finally obeyed God’s command and made his way to Nineveh, his worst fears were realized when the citizens of that wicked city repented. Disappointed that the enemies of God’s people had been spared and not destroyed, Jonah declared his dissatisfaction.

“Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. – Jonah 4:2 NLT

The whole reason Jonah tried to avoid his God-ordained mission was because he knew that Yahweh was merciful and compassionate. He understood that God was loving and quick to forgive. It was his knowledge of God that prompted him to try and disobey God because he didn’t want to see the Ninevites spared.

In a way, Elihu seems to be doing the very same thing. He avoids any mention of God’s love, mercy, and grace. He refuses to portray God as patient and compassionate. In his determination to convict and condemn Job, Elihu ends up diminishing the glory of God. He invites Job to praise a version of God that is incomplete and, therefore, inaccurate.

Elihu could have used a few pointers from the prophet, Joel. Rather than trying to scare Job into submission by emphasizing the judgment of God, Elihu should have pointed his suffering friend to the love, mercy, and grace of God.

That is why the Lord says,
    “Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
    but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
    He is eager to relent and not punish. – Joel 2:12-13 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

It's Never So Bad That God Can't Do Good. (Based on Psalm 69)

Psalm 69 – Day 2

Save me, O God, For the waters of difficulty are flooding my soul. It's like I am sinking into a bottomless mud pit, I find myself in deep waters that flow over my head. I have been calling for help so long my throat hurts and I am exhausted, Even my eyes grow weary looking for your salvation to come. It seems like there are more people who hate me without cause Than there are hairs on my head. These enemies who would destroy me, even though I don't deserve it, They make me pay back a debt I never owed. O God, You know every foolish thing I've ever done, And none of my sins are hidden from You. Don't let all those who hope in and wait on You be disappointed because of me, Don't let those who seek You be ashamed because of me. For it's because of You that I suffer all this contempt, It is for Your sake that I am disgraced. I am like a stranger to those who I used to call friends, And a foreigner to my own family. My unbridled love for Your house has ended up devouring me, And all the scorn they have for You is now directed at me. Even when I cry and fast, all I get is insults. I mourn my circumstances, and they ridicule me. The well-respected gossip about me, While the drunks make up songs about me. But as for me, I pray to You and ask that Your answer come at a favorable time, Show me mercy, answer me by showing me Your salvation. Rescue me out of the mud and don't let me sink any further. Deliver me out of the deep water, from those who hate me without cause. Don't let the waters of adversity overcome me, Don't let me be swallowed up or sink down. Hear me, O God, because of Your love, Turn to me and rescue me out of Your great compassion. Don't turn Your face away from Your servant, I am in trouble; hear me and answer quickly. Draw near to my soul and deliver it, Redeem it, and rescue me from my enemies. You understand full well all that I am going through, The insults, reproach, shame and dishonor. You're very familiar with all my enemies, because they are Yours, too. I am brokenhearted because of the constant scorn, My soul is sick, and I long for someone to show me pity. I long for compassion, but there in none coming. Instead, they feed me a steady diet of venom, They give me vinegar to drink. May what they serve up to me become a trap for them. And may all they hoped to gain from this turn against them. Blind their eyes, let them shake with fear. Pour out Your divine judgment on them; Let them experience Your just anger. May their homes become desolate and their tents empty. For they take joy in harassing the one You have chosen to discipline, And they gossip about the one You have punished. Repay them to the same degree they have paid me, Don't let any of them enjoy Your salvation. Don't let their names be written in the Book of Life, blot them out. But I am poor and in pain, so let Your salvation deliver me. When You do, I will praise You in song and give You thanks, Which will please You more than any sacrifice I could make. Others who are weak and powerless will see this and be glad, And they will be encouraged to seek You as well. For You hear those in need and do not ignore those imprisoned by pain. Let heaven and earth praise You, the oceans and everything in them. For You will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, So that Your people can live there and call it their permanent possession. The descendants of Your servants will inherit it, And all those who love Your name will live there.