God is love (Part 2)

Part 1 is Here (If you have not read it yet)

Have you ever tried to like someone you dislike with a passion? Say a co-worker who just bothers you and has been the bane of your existence. And as a good Christian you try to love them, to do good to them. But they do something and your anger boils and you are so annoyed you almost loose your peace?

When people view God in this same negative light there are lot of antagonistic feelings that come into play. If they blame him for things, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, a trial they are going through, or a painful situation that has scarred them they run the gambit of mixed emotions It his hard to reconcile these feelings of love/hate in your heart when you develop this view of God.

The Psalms offer so much help in this area. The psalmists are genuine in their expressions to God in their anguish and pain, in hurt and frustration. The Psalms have always been a haven of comfort in time of my trials and pain. I connect with the writers as they cry and call on God.

For example in one place he declares “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock [that] is higher than I.” Psalm 61;2

In another place the psalmist says “Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.” Psalm 142:6.

You can feel the author’s pain and anguish. But the key thing in all the Psalms is that no matter what place of pain or suffering the author started at, they always end at a place of victory, declaring the God of their victory! His joy comes into them. He is the God that heals them and restores them; They always end up giving him praise!

I remember when I was going through my anguish at the loss of my grandmother; I often turned to the Psalms for comfort as the Lord ministered through them to my spirit. I also recall the voice of the Lord speaking to me. He began to show me a new thing. He took me to Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD [is] the death of his saints.

He said that each person is precious and He knows how that separation from one another causes so much pain. He feels it too. He comes to comfort the one who is broken. Here is the key thing He said. You have to experience the pain of this separation because nothing here lasts forever. No matter how much love you have it cannot keep anything here forever. It must pass.

There is a reason for this. Death is the ultimate end in this world, but it is not THE end. It teaches us that we cannot reply and hope for permanence in this place. The bible says we are strangers in this place we are just passing through. Too often we want to build permeant structures in temporary places. We wanted to put roots into unstable ground. We want to build on shifting sands.

God continued revealing things to me. He said the only permeant thing in this universe is Himself. Heaven and earth will pass away. Family and friends will come into our life and pass away. Jobs, houses, cars and life will ultimately end. But He will not. He said “I am the only thing that will be with you now and tomorrow and forever” Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

“It is to show you that you cannot have a permeant relationship with anything in this world but Me! I will never fail. I will never leave you. I will never turn you away in anger. I will keep you safe and even death cannot separate you and me. You might not see your earthly family again in this time. But you can always see me!”

I began to see what He was impressing upon with. God is the only solid rock we can build on. We must build on this, the rock of Jesus Christ. Everything else will fail and pass away but not him! His love will never fail or pass away. I cannot accurately convey to you what God showed me. The medium of words cannot convey what God impresses on you through the spirit. It is a dull shadow of what He showed me. But I hope I have shown you in some small capacity what He showed me.

I began to know the joy of the Lord and His grace more and more. Even though I was in pain from the anguish in my heart, from the loss of my grandmother, I had the joy of the Lord in my Spirit. His joy has always been there with me!

It is an encouraging though that God is our refugee and our strength! It is in Him we need to build our lives not on temporary things. We must love our parents, our children, our neighbours and friends, but we cannot build our lives on them or around them, for when they fail we will fail and all we have build around them will come crashing down. However, if we build on Jesus, he will never fail, other things around us might come down and fail but He never will. He is our stability and the only sure unmovable thing in this world, that is always moving and changing. If we cling to Him first and foremost, we can never stumble and fall. He is love! And He loves us with an everlasting love that cannot and will not fail.