No Greater Love (Valentine's Special ♥️✝️)

Valentine's Special ♥️✝️

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John 15:13RSV

Greater love has no man than this, 

that a man lay down his life for his friends.

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I wasn't sure I was going to blog about this today. Truthfully speaking I was battling the what-ifs in my mind. It most certainly is supposed to be lovers' day...so why would I turn it all upside down and bring to the table the subject of God's Love? Wouldn't I be over spiritualizing everything? Shouldn't I at least, if need be, try and go with the flow? At least this once? Or at least try and blog about good godly relationships that even God would delight Himself in?

I sat on that quite a while and asked the Holy Spirit for His guidance. The answer? Well, here I am! Once again, very ready to share with you the many lessons I've learnt recently and quite a while back on the precious subject of God's Love. Believe you me I'm definitely not the best person to tell you anything about relationships, unless in theory, because I'm not even there yet. I'm building a firm, steady, and sure foundation on the rock--Christ, who is God's love revealed to all mankind. You're very much welcome to enjoy this journey with me.

Today's blog I believe will be very interesting...perhaps the most unique way anyone would ever use to approach the subject of God's Love. When it comes to this, many questions plague our minds, both consciously and unconsciously:

Why would a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why would a loving God allow so much pain and suffering in the world? Why would a loving God allow terminal diseases to take away the lives of precious, innocent souls? If He is indeed as powerful as He says, why can't He just end the pain and suffering once and for all? Why would a perfect God create such an imperfect world?

If you've been around sceptics and atheists, you'd know that most of them once believed -- up until one of the above questions plagued their minds and they embarked on a quest for answers in all the wrong books. Truth is they not only plague the minds of those who are "out", but more so for us who are already in Christ. The result is that when they come to us with those questions, we get frustrated too because we're all just riding in the same boat. 

Recently I discovered that I too didn't really have those answers. I found out that I too had been hurting in one way or the other, and my perception of God's Love had been bruised by grief over the loss of a loved one. When I brought it up in prayer that day here's what transpired:

(Just picture it 🙃🙃)

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"I want to introduce you to someone special today," He said.

"And who might that be?" I asked with anticipation.

"Meet Jeremiah..."

Jeremiah: "I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath..."

(Lamentations 3:1)

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So I read through Lamentations 3 and truthfully speaking I've never read a more heartbreaking chapter about God. The sad bit is that the chapter is actually an acrostic poem. Why would anyone compose such a beautiful piece but whose words are so filled with so much woe?

The God we've been introduced to today is viewed as all the good things: loving, loyal, kind, merciful, faithful, forgiving, compassionate, gracious, peaceful, good, a friend...name it all. 

Jeremiah introduces us to the exact opposite of that: full of wrath, an enemy, one who broke his bones, besieged him, surrounded him with bitterness and hardship, shut out his prayer, pierced his heart, broke his teeth, trampled him in the dust, left him without help, deprived him of peace...the list is endless.

The irony is that it's the same God we're talking about, only that we like to embrace parts of Him and not others. I too was perplexed reading that until He said, "I want to mature you in my love." It takes maturity to understand that despite all this mash-up of attributes God is perfect. He is complete. He is Love itself.

Maturity even in human relationships is about knowing all aspects of one's partner: good,bad and ugly; yet loving them all the more, and knowing that they too love us just as we are. It is this balance that Jeremiah so well captures in this same chapter. Regardless of it all He never for a moment doubted God's Love. Expectedly, that's the part we love to quote the most:

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Lamentations 3.22-24 NIV

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

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I think there's a song that captures it as: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never will come to an end... Further on in the chapter we find yet another amazing set of verses:

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Lamentations 3:31-33NIV

For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

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I know it might still not make sense to you. Maybe it's not supposed to. Maybe you only need to have this knowledge with you. This is for you to "not be surprised in case a fiery ordeal comes upon you, as though something strange were happening to you"(1 Peter 4:12). I'm not saying that it will. Well, just in case...

Now, whether the author of Lamentations underwent all those things he described or that he was personifying Jerusalem, I do not know. All in all, that was definitely not what was expected of God. The first verse, however, gives light and some meaning to the rest of the chapter. The author makes it clear that the affliction was as a result of "the rod of the Lord's wrath". That insinuates that all this was a result of God's discipline.

Verses 39 onwards show that this was actually a punishment for sins. It wasn't all in vain. It's why it still stands: He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. It's important that you get this as clearly as possible: He loves us, but He hates sin just as much. It's wisdom to strike a perfect balance between these two extremes. This unimaginable mash-up of attributes is what makes Him all that He is. The sooner we appreciate this the better. The very first description of God's attributes in the entire Bible captures this so well. God speaks for Himself and says this:

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Exodus 34.6-7a NIV

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,

maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished ...

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I'd like us to take yet another route to show God's Love revealed even in wrath and judgement. This is definitely one of the chapters we like to skip in our Bible reading because of how gruesome it sounds. I do too, honestly. It took me a lot of patience and tarrying to read between the lines and see God's love even in the most gruesome of texts.

The text is Ezekiel 16. Most versions have titled it as: Jerusalem as an adulterous wife; but my favorite one is where it's: The Harlot wife of Yahweh. It's quite lengthy so I may not be able to cover it exhaustively, but I'd encourage you to take a look at it even now so as to gain a better understanding in the paragraphs that follow. For the purpose of this blog we'll try and capture the relevant highlights as they pertain to God's love.

In a nutshell though, God was sending the prophet Ezekiel to confront Jerusalem with a list of all her detestable practices. Just like in Hosea, Jerusalem is likened to a harlot, but one who went on further to indulge in idolatry, bribed her lovers with gifts so they'd come to her for her illicit favours, and offered her children as food sacrifice to their idols. Before that, however, God had shown her love, bathed her, clothed her with fine garments and expensive jewellery and betrothed her to Himself as His wife (verses 8-13) It was when she continually "cheated on Him" that He decides to pour out His judgement on her. 

Now, onto the highlights!

♣️ Love sees beyond. 

God didn't begin narrating this story from a point of condemnation. He could easily have began by narrating all the evils this harlot committed. Rather, He was gracious enough to start this story from the very beginning: "Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites..." I consider this an expression of Grace because it's almost as if He was excusing them. He pointed out what the problem might have been: the rock from which they were hewn.

♣️ God owned her first. 

The harlot as described was in a very pathetic condition: abandoned, helpless, nearing death and stark naked. This is definitely not someone anyone would like to associate themselves with. Regardless of the shame and scorn that would mean, God didn't wait for her to choose Him, He chose her first. He made the first move. He did not wait for her to commit herself to Him so as to know whether or not He'd take that chance with her. He took that bold risk. He took His chance with her: "I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you."

♣️ He transformed her. 

He took it upon Himself to bathe her, adorn her, cover her nakedness with royal garments, nourished her with the best food and gave her splendor to make her beauty perfect. The result? "You became very beautiful and rose to a queen." That's to show us that though He accepts us as we are, His will is not for us to remain in our filth, but to transform us so we can begin to portray His royalty.

♣️ Exercise Recall. 

Probably the worst of all her evils was not the adultery, the prostitution or the idolatry, but in her "short memory"-- how quickly she forgot what she was before God passed by. "In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth; when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood." This is a call for all of us in the body of Christ to exercise recall ~ to remember who we were before we met Christ. Paul in His address to the Ephesians captures this so we'll, and I'll paraphrase (Ephesians 2:1-10):

We were dead in our transgressions, lost in our sin. We, like the rest of them, deserved God's wrath. But because God's love for us was and still is so great, and His mercy towards us so rich, He made us alive with Christ. He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. For it is by Grace we have been saved. This is not from ourselves, but is a gift from God; not by works, lest anyone should boast.

♣️ God loved her. 

Hard as it may be to see that, this is the main point I'm trying to bring across here. He loved her too much  to leave her in her filth. He loved her so much that He could not bear to see her waste her life in the hands of her so called lovers. He cared enough to let her know she was wrong in leaving Him for what could never satisfy her. He did this by way of punishment: "So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory..." This is the "rod" of His wrath that's captured in Lamentations 3:1. 

♣️ You (and I) could be "her". 

It's expected that when we read such texts we like to associate them with "outsiders", and by that I mean those that are in the world and have not yet encountered Christ as Lord and Savior. Realize, however, that this story wasn't about the Babylonians or the Sodomites or any other nation for that matter. It was Israel God was referring to ~ His very own people, the ones He chose for Himself among all the nations of the earth. That is to say that this message is not for anyone else, it's for you and I - we who have known Christ and are betrothed to Him by virtue of being saved. 

In any case in the latter verses (44-52), God makes it clear that Jerusalem did far much greater evils than all of those other nations: " You have done more detestable things than they..." Jerusalem copied their detestable practices and ended up becoming more depraved than they. It's no surprise, then, that their punishment is as severe as it is. In light of this, it is sons of God that are chastised. Check this:

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Hebrews 12:5b-6NIV 

"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

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♣️ God's Love always Prevails. 

We could go on and on and talk about so much in this text. We'll let that be a story for another day. For now, focus on the shift that happens in verse 53 onwards. God suddenly begins to promise restoration after the punishment. I know it doesn't make sense, but that's just what it is. It all ends in Love. "For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime" (Psalms 30:5a). 

♣️ Love stepped in. 

The very final verses: 

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Ezekiel 16:62-63 NIV

So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. 

Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"

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Atonement in very simple terms refers to the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ. I don't know about you but I find that very mind blowing. Jesus literally stepped in to make amends for the wrongs we ourselves had done. He stood in for us, became a curse so we'd be redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). All this is beautifully captured in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 as the ministry of reconciliation, the climax of which says it all: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

Now we'll beautifully sum up our key text in Ezekiel. It's pretty clear that the harlot wife missed out on so much when she thought she was having it all. She left so much for nothing. She had not allowed the Love of God to find root and expression in her. That explains why countless though her lovers were, none could satisfy her. She was insatiable. The one thing she missed out on?

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Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NIV

The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

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God loved her even before time began...when she was still kicking about and laying in her blood, when she was still despised, when she was still stark naked. None of all her other lovers could offer her that. They only loved the transformation and beauty that God bestowed upon her. Theirs wasn't love. God's was and still is. Highlight this: If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13 NKJV)

So let this sink in:

God loves you and I as we are, even in our lowest...even at our worst. His love for us isn't any less when we forsake Him and chase after what would never satisfy--broken cisterns that can hold no water(Jeremiah 2:13). God's love for you is infinitely more than you can imagine--the breadths, the lengths, the heights and the depths--all too extreme. It is independent of your deeds, whether evil or righteous. It's a radiance of who He is, so nothing can change that. As gross as those passages of Scripture are, that is His love letter to you today. 

Jeremiah 31:3-4 (paraphrased):

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I have loved you with an everlasting love; with unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy. You will again be adorned. You will again dance with those who rejoice. Yes! You will again go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. This is my promise to you, my beloved.

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To that one that may have strayed away, or that other one that has never really opened up to receive this Love: There's more mercy in Christ than sin in you. He's waiting on you...

PS: This isn't for anyone to think that these are the only ways that God shows us His love🙃. There are many beautiful ways that He does that, ones that you don't need to struggle to read between any lines. We'll soon do a bit on the well known Songs of Solomon and capture that. Meanwhile, Happy Valentines! I love you all🌹!