Ten Truths about God’s Love and Faithfulness

As I sit here to write, I need to let you know I’d rather be doing something else. I want to craft or read a book or shop for things I don’t need online. I want to escape. Ever been there?

But I don’t want to…

For each of us, there are moments, or days, or even seasons when the task before us is not our first choice. The reasons we don’t want to do the assignment given us are so varied: we are tired; we don’t feel well; we are overwhelmed; the task feels hard; we don’t know how to do what God has asked us to do; circumstances distract us; we are hurting; we are grieving; we are distracted by things good or not so good; the activity doesn’t feel fun; we’d rather do (blank). Too many times, I find myself stubbornly digging in my heels because I just don’t want to do the whatever before me.

For your general information, before I sat down, I finished every daily puzzle the game apps on my phone provided me. I ate a questionably healthy breakfast. I watched a bit of the Today show. I sorted laundry and put in the first load. I took a card out to the mailbox. I poured another cup of coffee. I checked Facebook and Instagram one last time. I wrote a check. I called my sweet Pastor husband with a question. I did some of the dishes (did you notice the qualifier, ‘some?’).

Can you feel me today?

My Plans vs. God’s Plans

God had other plans.

The Holy Spirit whispered the word Faithful to me. It’s almost as if He gently took my face in His hands, looked deeply and tenderly into my eyes, and said, “I am faithful. Know my faithfulness, hold on to it, cling with all you have to the truth that I am faithful.”

Even in this moment, as I type, I hear Him speaking with such great love and comfort into my need and my desperation. He is faithful. In the middle of circumstances where I can’t quite land a clear decision of what to do, He is faithful. As I consider family and friends who are battling disease and unspeakable circumstances, He is faithful. In the middle of all that is happening in Ukraine, He is faithful. When I think of the things on my piddly to do list that I just don’t want to do, He is faithful. As I contemplate how I wish life would be, He is faithful.

Discovering God’s Faithfulness

I encountered His great faithfulness as I read His Word the other morning. The passage didn’t mention His faithfulness, not even once. Yet, God’s consistency, dependability and reliability is what I saw between the lines as I read 1 John 4:7-21.

My Bible provides me an introduction to each book of the Bible. In that introduction, the editors of my She Reads Truth Bible inform me “First John was written to help early Christians confirm their faith and avoid destructive beliefs and behaviors.” I often read verses in 1 John with the idea that I need to corral or change my behavior; I focus on what I should or should not be doing.

Truth from First John 4

Normally when I read the verses in I John 4 about loving others as God loves us, I feel compelled to create a list of better behaviors that I should be enacting. That’s not a bad approach to the passage, but in my current emotional state, it could’ve easily sent me spiraling down a dark hole. God’s Spirit graciously drew my eyes and my heart to dwell on the truth of His love.

1. Love originates from God. Love is not something we must conjure up; love is something we tap into (1 John 4:7).
2. God is love; it is His nature, a summation of His character. Who He is encompasses every aspect of the concept of love. Every situation where you or I have felt loved somehow, some way, originated in our creator God (verse 8).
3. God reveals His love to us. We don’t have to wonder about it, be confused about it, or spend our entire lives trying to find it (verse 9).
4. God’s love sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross and pay the penalty for our sins. God planned this, followed through with this, endured this, so that we could live the kind of life He created us to live. God put all His cards on the table and declared His extravagant love for us (verses 9-10).
5. God’s love changes us from the inside out. God’s Word doesn’t command us to try harder, love others more! God’s generous gift of love so radically affects us, love pours from our lives to bless others (verses 11-12).
6. God’s love revealed through Jesus and others, who are living lives changed by His love, enable us to “see” a God who is invisible (verses 10-12).
7. We can know and trust God’s love. God will move on our behalf so that we can grasp and learn to anchor our lives in His great love for each of us. He doesn’t leave us wandering around trying to figure out this love life on our own. He speaks to us, encourages us, strengthens us, defends us, and enables us, all because He loves us (verse 16).
8. God wants to be intertwined with our spirits. We are more to God than another person in His friend group. He desires that we abide with Him; to dwell, bunk, reside, settle, stay, hang out, submit to, stand for, receive, live with, continue, persevere, endure, linger, and remain with Him encompassed in His love (verse 16).
9. God’s love eliminates our fear of being judged as less than, unworthy, and unacceptable. We are to welcome God’s love into our lives, dive into its depths and accept that His love is for each of us, exactly as we are in this moment (verse 18).
10. God loves us first. Before we ever do anything of value, before we act in a “right” manner, before we are ever even born, God loves us (verse 19).

God’s Love and Faithfulness

At first glance, you may not see God’s faithfulness. This is what I know: too many times we perceive if someone loves us, they will do what we want them to do. First John 4 says nothing about God doing what I want. It does speak of God’s love being constant, stable, unchanging, generous, and for our good. It makes me consider I don’t know what it means to genuinely love.

“Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:21-23 CSB

God faithfully loves us on days when the sun is brilliant and glorious, and on days that are frightfully stormy. He loves us with the same love when we are stubborn and angry, as He does when we are grateful and obedient. He continues to draw us to Him and meets us in the middle of whatever mess we find ourselves. He doesn’t change, and neither does His love for us; that is faithfulness.

Pause and Listen

Perhaps your heart is like mine today and you need a reminder of God’s love and how faithful He is. Stop for a moment and let your mind go quiet; with every ounce of your being, listen for God to speak. He will speak, be patient in the stillness. Allow Him to wrap you in the love He’s been offering you since before you can remember.

He is faithful. Let Him love you today.

Girl Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash