Think about this for a second. I can't listen to this song without being overwhelmed. I have heard this song so many times and sang it in church hundreds of times but I heard it again last night as I was reading and God just embraced me with his loving arms and all I could do was cry as I soaked in his goodness and faithfulness.
He loves like a hurricane, now I don't know about you but when I think of love I think of red hearts and fluffy teddy bears and yummy coffee! I do not think of a hurricane! But God's love is like a hurricane! And yo know what, it isn't always warm and fuzzy but it's REAL! I read a little bit about this song and John Mark McMillan says: "This song is a celebration of a God who would want to hang with us through difficult and messy things, who would want to be a part of our lives through those things, and, despite who we are, He would want to be a part of us."
A little over a year ago I read this book titled "Lies Women Believe and the truth that sets them free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. (If you are a woman out there and you haven't read this book...go get it..now!) It is an amazing and powerful book that talks about every lie that we as women tend to believe and how it hinders us and blinds us and prevents us from being all we were created to be. I got it out again last night and I'm going to read it again. One part talks about the lie we believe that God doesn't really love us. DeMoss explains how we, as women, are led by emotions and feelings. All of us at some point have been let down, rejected and disappointed. Whether it was a family member, friend, husband or boyfriend. Each of us have experienced that feeling of rejection by that person who was supposed to be the person that loved us and that person that we wanted to receive that sense of security from. So, the devil says, "Hey, if God is supposed to be your LOVING father and you are supposed to find SECURITY in Him, how is that going to be any different than your past experiences?" And we believe it! We think that we have to EARN His love and when we mess up, He wont love us anymore. We think that in order to receive forgiveness of our sin there must be a list of things we have to do and a period of time before we can go back to Him and after it's happened three times, He must really be sick and tired of me and not want anything to do with me!
This is the furthest idea from the truth! It's a lie from the enemy and this is not who God is at all! DeMoss says in her book, "The truth is, God does love us. Whether or not we feel loved, regardless of what we have done or where we have come from, He loves us with an infinite, incomprehensible love."
Back to the picture of the tree bending in the hurricane, we've all seen something like this whether in real life or on TV. But we'e seen that tree completely overtaken and controlled by the wind of the hurricane. Bending almost to the ground and completely vulnerable, this is us under God's love. It's not always pretty but it's real and He is always there. As McMillan said, even through the messy, ugly stuff in life, God still loves us and His love never changes despite our circumstances or our actions.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. -Hebrews 13:8
The Bible tells us that God has loved us since before time began, before the creation of the world and before we were even conceived, He loved us and He loves us with that same love today and He will love you with that same love tomorrow and next month and next year, no matter what you do. I remember the first time I actually realized what God's love was like and that it had nothing to do with what I had done or could ever do. He spoke to me through this song:
WHO AM I
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
-Casting Crowns
Until we realize that nothing we ever do can make our God love us any more or any less, we will not fully comprehend how great God's love is for us. "Melana Monroe was battling breast cancer and after her double mastectomy she thought her husband would never love her the same: As we wept and trembled when he took my bandages off the first time, I was so ugly, scarred and bald. I was in intense grief that I could never be a whole wife to him again. Steve held me tightly and with tears in his eyes said, "Melana, I love you because that's who I am." I instantly recognized Christ in my husband. As His bride, we are also eaten up with cancer--sin-- and are scarred, mutilated and ugly but He loves us because that is who He is. No comeliness in us draws Christ's attention; it is only His essence that draws Him to us." (Excerpt from Lies Women Believe and the truth that sets them free by DeMoss)
We will never completely understand why or how God loves us so much. Our earthly bodies and minds can't fully comprehend heavenly things but sometimes we just have to cling to the truth that He gave us in His word, He loves us with an everlasting love and nothing can ever change that.
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