In the Word: God is Loving

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Over the next several weeks, we will be looking at different characteristics of God—specifically reflecting on how each aspect of His character offers us hope in the midst of our grief.  As we study together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dig into the infinitely beautiful character of God along with us! 

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
Jeremiah 31:3

READ:

Evidence of God’s great love for you is woven throughout every single page of Scripture and in every detail of your life. But often, when we face trials, hardship, and sorrow, we begin to doubt His love. It’s as though we measure the sincerity and strength of His love by the circumstances we face, and conclude that if we are experiencing suffering, it must be because He does not love us. Some days you may feel as though you are no longer loved by God, because everything in your life seems to be at war with you. You live in a broken, sinful world. Your flesh longs to seek after satisfaction anywhere but in God. You have an enemy whose desire is to tear you down and destroy your hope.

What if, instead of gauging God’s love by our circumstances, we view our circumstances through the lens of His great love? Dear sister, our God has engraved you on the palm of His hands—hands that bear the sacred marks of His far-reaching love for you. His love for you is greater than even that of a mother for her child. This, as you well know, is profound indeed.

The greatest love was revealed through the greatest sacrifice. In love, God gave everything, to the point of sacrificing His very own Son. At the cross, the perfect, eternal love of God was demonstrated so clearly as Christ, His Son, bore all of our sins for us. This is boundless, immeasurable, unfathomable, inexhaustible love. God’s love for us stretches beyond time itself, from before time even began, and will continue unceasingly into eternity. God—who is Most High—endured all of the pain, suffering and shame of a gruesome death in order to provide redemption for a people who did not even care about Him. This is love.

REFLECT:

1. How is the cross evidence of God’s love for you?
2. How does God’s love give you the strength to face the sorrows of this world?
3. What lies have you allowed yourself to believe about God’s love?

JOURNAL:

Take some time to record the evidence of God’s love that you have seen in the midst of your sorrow. Write a prayer to God, thanking Him for His great love for you.

Ashlee is the Editorial Coordinator for Hope Mommies and author of I AM (Hope Mommies, 2017) and Identity (Hope Mommies, 2018). She and her husband, Jesse, live in Milwaukee with their children—five on earth and two in heaven.

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