The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)
This past week, my Bible study readings were all about the great love God has for each one of us. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not know about God’s love for me. Still, this set of readings and reflections caught me up short. Two Bible stories I have known for years came alive in a new way.
First came the story of Hosea and Gomer. Hosea was a prophet of God, and God instructed him to marry and remain faithful to a woman – Gomer – who would be repeatedly unfaithful to him. Hosea’s marriage was a physical picture of God’s faithfulness to and love for His people, Israel. In chapter 3, Hosea has to buy Gomer back from slavery. He does so willingly, redeeming her debt and restoring their relationship.
Second was the story of Israel being given the law. The writer focused on the verse where God says “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5, CSB). God is not jealous of Israel, but jealous for Israel. God knows that no other thing in all creation will provide what the people need. God’s great love leads Him to remind them to worship only Yahweh, that they may be satisfied recipients of God’s faithful love for generations.
As I reflected on these stories together, the eyes of my heart were opened anew. I was overcome with the sense of just how great God’s love is for me. There are hardly words to describe the fullness of that moment. It was truly stunning.
God’s love for me is so great that He will pay whatever it takes, willingly, to bring me back to Himself. I may pursue other gods by giving my time, talents, and treasure to fleeting things. Yet God continues in loving me. God goes so far as to willingly pay off my debt that I might be redeemed and restored to relationship with Him. And this willingness comes directly from that great love. The God who created me and knows me best also knows that I will not be fully satisfied by any created thing, no matter how good that thing is. Only relationship with God is able to bring me an abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10.
This abundant life—alternatively rendered as “life to the full” in the NIV—is a life that is fully redeemed, healed, and restored. God is not in the business of doing things half-way. Rather, God is in the business of taking us from death to life. That is, God heals our hurts, repairs our brokenness, and restores us to wholeness.
In my life, God’s restoration came once He revealed the great fear I had of being fully known by other people. It turned out that I truly believed that if people really knew me, they wouldn’t like me, and they certainly couldn’t love me. I spent many years hiding my true thoughts and feelings from everyone around me. Sometimes I even hid them from myself. It was too painful to face my hurts, so I tucked them away under lock and key. To the outside world, I presented a false version of myself. This false version was always okay, had everything together, and could always find you the right answer for whatever question came up.
Of course, our pain never does stay completely hidden. Eventually my pain came out in the form of a major depressive episode. I could no longer avoid having my true thoughts and feelings known by others. Thankfully, God had given me a church, a Bible study group, and a house of prayer filled with people ready and willing to love me like God does in the midst of my pain. Through many hours of sitting with God and with God’s people, I was able to really hear God’s great love for me. And that love poured into all the hurt places, washing away the pain and putting the broken pieces back together again.
Through the healing process, I also learned the goodness of sharing my true thoughts and feelings with those who love me. While I still struggle in this area, the experience of being truly known and loved by God and God’s people has brought me freedom to walk in a more abundant life than before. And I look forward to continuing to heal as I am rooted more and more in God’s love.
This hope that I now have—that wholeness and abundance are God’s intention for me—is the hope we offer to everyone who comes to Outpost. No matter the pain, no matter the struggle, no matter the brokenness, God’s love for us gives us the hope of healing. Even life-dominating issues like unwanted same-sex erotic/romantic attraction and confusion about identity are within God’s power to heal. Lamentations 3:22-24 provide one of my favorite summaries of God’s love. God’s love and mercies are new every morning. They never cease or come to an end. God is faithful to bring about what He has promised: life to the full. This is truly good news.
Maybe this is hard for you to believe right now. I know I spent many years not really believing that this good news was for me. Let me encourage you: this good news is for everyone. Jesus reminds us in John 3:16-17 of this fact:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.” (NASB)
The world is not everyone except you and me. The world is everyone including you and me. This is the truth of the Gospel. God loves each and every one of us. He created you, knitting you together intentionally, and is calling you to follow Him. May we each be willing to receive this great, unceasing love and allow God to heal our hurts, repair our brokenness, and restore our lives to the full.
Join us for more stories of God’s great love at the spring banquet on Saturday, March 25. Come hear how God is moving in the lives of our participants. Be encouraged by their testimony and by an evening of fellowship, worship, and vision-casting. Registration is open through Tuesday, March 21 on the events page.
