Do You Know How Much God Loves Us

What does it mean that "God loves us"? This kind of love is beyond what we can comprehend with our natural minds. 

God created man in His own image (Gen 1:27) to fellowship with Him, to be stewards of the Earth, and reflect His divine life. God knew in this beginning about the first murder, the betrayal, the idolatry, and human self-glory, yet God still created man because of God's great love for us.

There was a time when God regretted that He created humanity, and the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the Earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Gen 6:6. But, before he destroyed his creations, He found a man who loved him, and gave this man, Noah, the knowledge needed to avoid destruction. 

After the flood, when the Earth was once again dry, Noah offered praise to the Lord. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. Gen 8:21E

This is an excellent example of God's all-encompassing love. God purposed in His heart that He would always love humanity despite the failings and betrayals.

The closest example I can think of is the love that I have for my children. What mother doesn't love her newborn unconditionally? What that means is days of diapers, hours of feeding, being on call for any cry, holding and rocking, and there is no sleep. And as the baby grows despite the tantrums and misbehavior, love lives. Love doesn't count, it keeps, kisses, and wonders at the miracle that is your child.

More than the love we know for our child, the love of God is greater, totally unconditional. These are paraphrased words from Clay Davidson's song "Unconditional." "The child said, "I hate you," and slammed the door. The father replies, "You can't stop my love for you; it's a given. You can turn away, forget me, curse my name, but love won't let go, it's unconditional." 

To me, this sums up how much God loves us. 

Unbelief-This is Woe

The Israelites wandered in the desert because they refused to make the decision to walk by faith, and not by sight. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD—to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, "a land flowing with milk and honey."
NKJV Joshua 5:6

Struggling in this sifting sand

with no firm ground below,

Among this crowd of nomads,

wondering in woe.

Wandering within these walls

of blue and white hot light,

Days spent walking forward,

Resting quietly each night.

Finding bread each morning

spread across the sands like dew.

Witnessing a stone being struck

and water flowing through.

Following a column

lighting one step at a time,

What now seems so uncertain,

Was it once so all divine?

My legs do not grow weary,

My clothes do not decay,

I follow, I am silent,

I do not know the way.

I'm curious about the land

beyond what I can see.

I know the land that's now behind

and burns my memory:

As fear and worry capture me

I ponder at my plight

Give voice to discontentment

And rail against this flight.

To choose to stay, or choose to slow?

But if I leave, where will I go?

Dwelling in the land now past

Freedom was my dream.

But in these walls of desert

What freedom can be seen?

I cry aloud, to God..

And pause. Wipe blinding sand aside.

I remember I was rescued

I walked through walls of tide.

My steps grow quick, a song bursts forth.

I lift my voice, now strong.

I hear the praises echo

through this great nomadic throng.

I look up to the light again-

A steady, constant glow.

And steady now my heart responds

That where it leads, I'll go.

I know now what is woe.

These are Sacred Things

Sacred things:

Keeping secrets,

Listening when you’re busy

Holding memories tight

And opening your heart.

Loving the unlovely

Smiling when you’re worn

Patiently tying a child’s shoe

And opening your heart.

For all the sacred thoughts and dreams

For holy smiles and words

For sunshine on a winter’s day

We hold our sacred things

Gently, like young children,

And sacredly open our hearts.

Jesus Can Overcome Your Thoughts

I learned that Jesus can overcome my thinking, my doubts, and my misgivings. I was working on a poem expressing the origins of earth-Yes, I did think this. I remembered that in the Bible there was a reference to giants that walked the lands. 

I asked a woman I worked with (whose husband was a minister) if I could meet with them to discuss this reference and talk about my poem. They were very kind to my hippie agnostic self. As I was leaving, the minister said to read the book of John when I had time.

OK. I was cooking dinner, sitting on a bench in my kitchen, and opened my big Catholic Bible my mom gave me when I was married. This is the result:

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." John 1:1-14 

Agnostic eyes read these words. 
My brain translating concepts into thoughts:
Flowing electricity
Through the fortifications of all I knew.
Stunned, I stared at lilac walls,
Laced with the afternoon sun.
I sat, looking at the big book in my hand,
My brain clicking internal binary codes,
Programming inroads
Through disconnected memory files
And suddenly,
Organized sense awoke.
A veil was lifted:
I gasped, “I’m saved.”

(excerpt from my book "Believing is Just the Beginning")

God: My life and breath

You are my life and breath,

My fiber, and the basis of my being.

You are the strength in my soul,

The keeper of the courage in my heart.

In the devastation of broken dreams,

Among the ruins of unrecognized hope, 

You are the foundation for rebuilding and rebirth,

The keeper of the courage in my heart.

Your Word is like a strong arm,

Your will a wall of safety.

You are faith itself, and never-ending hope.

Though earthquakes rock my life

And split my dreams like paper

I cling to You, my constant source of strength,

Oh Lord, my hope and my eternal love.

You own my heart, and all that I have belongs to You.

What thought, or dream conceived,

Does not spring from Your creation?

I am, I am because You are,

Oh Lord. I am because You are.

 From "Believing is Just the Beginning" by Pennee Struckman