~ written by Connie Dunmyer
There is a difference between KNOWING God’s love and EXPERIENCING God’s love. Most of my life I’ve “known” God’s love – I’ve been educated in it, I’ve believed in it. It’s in my head. God’s love simply IS – it’s an attribute of God. God is love. He could no more not Love than He could not be Holy. God is Truth. God cannot lie. That is also an attribute of God. The same is true of Love. God is Love. It is a fact.
So to know, and I would also say even see God’s love around me is one thing. And it IS an important thing. That is one of the ways God draws people to Himself. But to experience God’s love . . . that is something different. It is a matter of my will. God is willing to share all of Himself, all His attributes, and all His love with every single person that has ever been or ever will be (Luke 11:13). But it is up to each of us – it is up to ME as an individual – to accept, embrace, and experience His love. And spoiler-alert. . . it’s not a one-and-done thing. Even those of us who have walked with Jesus for a long time can still get tripped up and miss out on experiencing His love.
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
WOW!
Read that again until you catch the wow-factor! This is not human-love. This is divine. This is not explainable in one’s mind. And it’s not a feeling that can come and go. This is agape. This is what drove Jesus to leave heaven’s splendor, come to earth to live a perfect life and die a horrible sinner’s death, but rise again – not for His own power, but so that WE could share that power – to save me, to save you, to save all who will, from that which separates us from His perfect love. I mean really – Wow!
No matter how much we believe and know that God loves us – we have to be reminded to from time to time to experience it.
When I’m standing in a field of daisies on a sunny day, it’s not hard for me to believe that God is love and that He loves me. The day I’m on a beach, and I stare out to the vastness of the ocean and a whale breeches, it is easy to see the Hand of God and believe His love did that. And the day they place my newborn in my arms for the first time, and the tears won’t stop flowing – oh I am overwhelmed by the love of God. And those are all fun and beautiful ways to experience God’s love.
But what about the “other days”? What about the day the pipes burst and the basement is flooded? What about the day the whole family has stomach flu? What about the night the dog has a run-in with a skunk, just as I’m about to go to bed? What about the day the drunk hits me broadside? What about the day I’m moving my family across the country for a new job, only to get a message “turn around, we changed our minds”? What about the day the doctor says “it’s cancer”? What about the day mom dies? What about the day I give in to temptation? What about the day someone lies and gets me fired? What about that day?
Do I still know God is love? Yes. Do I experience it? Well … do I? Can I?
Yes. Because it is a matter of my will. I may not “feel” it, but I can still EXPERIENCE it by choosing to.
Life is not made up of only good times and pretty things. Sometimes experiencing the love of God comes from something hard, something painful. And if you’ve been there, you’ve probably found that those experiences tend to embed His love into the depths of our souls deeper and stronger than the “field of daisies”.
It is a matter of the will. It is in those moments – crushing as they are – that we must stand by faith on the assurance of God’s love. It is a promise that we must choose to believe. And by our will, we can experience God’s love. Our feelings will fluctuate. We are still human beings, after all.
To help in those times of flux – I like two “S” words (and no, it’s not that s-word.)
- Sing. Sing the promises of God. It helps more to actually sing, not simply listen. Sometimes when I’ve got nothing else, I will sing “Jesus Loves Me” to myself – over and over. I really do.
- Scripture. Find a verse of promise and repeat it – aloud – as often as needed – to get you through that moment.
One scripture I go to on such occasions is 2 Chronicles 20:12 “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” And when I repeat that, I am also reminded of verse 15 “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
Do this experiment with me. Take a penny. Close one eye and hold it out arm’s length toward the sun as if you were trying to block out the sun. You cannot do it – at least not without burning your retina. The sun is too bright. It will overcome the penny. Now gradually bring that penny closer and closer to your eye. The sun is now blocked by the penny as it gets to your eye.
What’s my point? Think of the penny as your circumstance, your problem, the thing you cannot help but be focused on. And think of the sun as the Son – Jesus. The closer it is to the sun – the less you see the problem, and the more you see the Son. You are nearly blinded to the problem entirely. But the closer the problem (penny) gets to your eyes, your focus, the less you see the Son. Eventually it completely blocks out the Son entirely and all you see is the problem.
"We must turn from our circumstances TO the Lord.
We must see our circumstances through God’s love
instead of, as we are prone to do,
seeing God’s love through our circumstances."
~ from Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
God’s love is immutable – unchangeable, unalterable – it will not change over time, or ever! And God’s love is very, very personal and intimate. Whatever the “penny” is in my life, or in your life – God’s love is there, covering us, comforting us, enabling us, and strengthening us – waiting for us to focus on His love rather than the problem. We need to will ourselves toward His promises. And God is faithful (another attribute). He will never let us down in our efforts to experience His love.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted [tested] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted [tested], he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
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