Don’t Diminish His Love
“The deepest sorrow we could ever drape over God is our refusal to believe He loves us.” -Lysa Terkeurst, First 5 devotion, April 4, 2016
That quote sparked a memory for me that made me catch my breath. As I read the devotion from First 5 that particular morning out of Hebrews chapter ten, that memory stayed just at the corners of my mind, allowing me to absorb the contents of the devotion. God loves us with such an abundance yet we often never come to terms with that. Instead, we believe the lies of Satan causing us to doubt the One who gave His very life in exchange for ours so that we could live far above the reach of the evil, nasty, slimy one who wants to destroy us.
Are you there today my friends? Are you one of them who refuses to believe God loves you? Sure, we can believe He loves everyone else around us, but could He even love us? Could He? Yes! Yes, He can and He does. So why do we have such a hard time believing that?Think of it like this; you love your children so much you would do anything for them. But they don’t believe you love them. And because they don’t believe it, they act and speak quite the opposite, even live in ways that disconnects them from you. Wouldn’t that just break your heart? How do you think God feels?
Hebrews 10:23 states, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
God is faithful, lovelies. All He promises to us He will back it up. He never goes back on a promise, including the one where He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). How then, can we possibly think for one minute that God doesn’t love us? It’s a nasty lie of the enemy. Listen, God loves you so much and there is not one thing you can do, have done, or will ever do that will cause Him to stop loving you. Just as you always love your children no matter what they’ve done, God loves you even more than that. And just as it would break your heart for your children to refuse to believe that you love them, how much more is God’s heart broken when we refuse to believe He loves us?
At the end of my devotion that day, there is a section for comments. This is where I pulled my memory out of the dusty corner and posted a comment using that memory. The memory stems from a bad back injury I sustained several years ago. The pain medication I was on caused me some very bad physical reactions and illness. It also caused me to go into a severe state of depression with even worse panic and anxiety attacks.
As I dealt with these issues, I was convinced by the enemy that I was suffering because God hated me. I could not wrap my mind around the truth that He loves me unconditionally. I truly thought God had turned His back on me. Then one day He literally showed me what that would feel like.
Suddenly I felt alone. I felt hopeless, helpless, and in such despair that it nearly tore my heart out. The instant terror and darkness that threatened to overtake me was too much. I knew in that moment that I was as far from God as I had ever been in my life and it was worse than all the depression, panic, and anxiety I had been dealing with since my back injury. In desperation I literally cried out loud, “God, don’t leave me!”
In an instant, the love that I took for granted was back. I knew without a doubt that I was going to be okay. He had been there the whole time, but my mind was so messed up with lies and pain that I couldn’t accept it. Yet, He was there. The peace was back. The security was back. And I knew in my heart that it would never leave me again.
All of that took less than a few seconds. Yes, I said SECONDS. God didn’t let me suffer without Him any longer than it took to get my attention. Even in my distress beforehand, He was loving enough to only take His hands off me for a few short seconds. He taught me a great lesson that day and I will never forget it.
Thank God that I’m healed today! His love for me has never wavered. But when we refuse to believe that He loves us, we diminish His love. We also disconnect ourselves from Him because of the doubt we place between us and Him. What a horrible way to live.
Listen lovelies, God loves you so much. He always has. How much more must He show you before you believe? Stop listening to the lies of the devil today. God loves you more than that. He promises… and He never goes back on a promise.
