“I know that You love me.”

Such are the words from the song by Jesus Culture, Your Love Never Fails, which I listened to this morning. They’re part of the chorus that goes like this,

“And when the oceans rage, I don’t have to be afraid, because I know that You love me. Your love never fails.”

I immediately thought of the words of Jesus, who in John 16 said this,

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father” (25-27).

“For the Father Himself loves you”–that is, the Father Himself loves me. I don’t know as I really get hold of this. Not that I don’t want to! The love of God, for me, should make all the difference.

It’s not as if I haven’t seen or experienced it. All I need do–which I do fairly regularly–is look around me and see what God has done. Wow! If this isn’t God’s love, I don’t know what is! There are the things He has given me, and the people in my life! My goodness! There is Barbara! And my children and grandchildren!

And there are the experiences I have had with God, deep ones, intimate ones. Times when in such proximity to God I don’t know as I could be closer.

Then there is His words, personal words spoken to me not once, not a few times, but countless times over the span of 43 years. If ever there were a sign of His love, it’s that He would take me into His confidence and share His heart with me.

There are the Scriptures, which from beginning to end tell of the love that God has for man, and the lengths to which He has gone to get this across to him. Over and over we see His love and kindness demonstrated in miraculous interventions, supernatural–as well as natural–provisions, military victories, great and powerful deliverances, business successes, as well as in tender moments and words of compassion.

The greatest exhibit of His love, of course, is seen in the Person of His Son. “God so loved the world that He sent His Son.” The fact that He came is one thing; that He (Jesus) perfectly revealed the Father, that would be enough. But overwhelmingly is the proof of His heart toward us in that Jesus died on our behalf. “We know love by this,” John writes, “that He laid down His life for us.” He was saying the same thing Jesus Himself said, in that, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And that He did.

I realize that many of the things we see or experience may cause us to wonder, may cloud our thinking. ‘If God loves me, why is this happening to me.’ Or, ‘If God is love, why does He allow such things?’ Which is why we have as historical fact the demonstration of His love. We can always get our bearings, no matter our circumstances, by looking to the cross of Christ. Too, what you experience, though hard–even traumatic, may well be the love of God playing out in your life (see Hebrews 12). Whatever we go through, we have the added assurance that, because He loves us, He causes everything to work together for our good. That is, God will move heaven and earth–and everything in them–for you, for your ultimate good. It may not seem that way for a time, maybe a long time, but when you get on the other side of your troubles, you’ll see it if you hold firmly to your faith.

Again, as the song goes, “when the oceans rage I don’t have to be afraid, because I know that You love me.”

It’s like what David says in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

I personally find no greater comfort in my struggles and petty afflictions than the Presence of God assuaging me; experiencing Him is all I need. “The nearness of God is my good.” I know in my head He loves me. I know by reason of Christ’s death and resurrection that He loves me. I know He loves me because others love me. And I know He loves me because the Bible tells me He loves me. Yet it priceless to really and truly experience His love when He chooses in love to allow me the indescribable pleasure of His manifest presence. This, in addition to His personal words to me–even if they’re corrective in nature, I crave.

Finally, we know the love of God because He calls us His kids. I am, by nature, a child of God. “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1 NLT). We should never let it escape our thinking, that God is our Father and we are His child. No matter how old you are, albeit in age or Christian maturity, you are still and always will be, His kid. If this isn’t love, then I don’t know what love is.