Because He cares for you

Because He cares for you.

Stop. Be still. Think about this.

God, Creator of all, Sustainer of all, King of kings, Lord of lords cares for you.

Be quiet. Silence your mind. Turn off all the arguments and ‘evidences’ against this truth.

God sent His only Son, to be utterly humiliated, to live with all the limitations and weaknesses of humanity, to be persecuted, falsely accused, to be ridiculed, mocked, scorned, to be judged by His own creatures to be acting on behalf of satan, to be judged by mankind to be stricken, smitten/punished by His Father. God sent His only Beloved Son so that you can also be called a beloved, treasured, precious child of God.

Because He cares for you.

Would you sacrifice your only child so that you could be reconciled and at peace with your very own nemesis?!

Think about the caring people you know, who you’ve witnessed demonstrating patient and attentive care to others, or even to yourself.

Come to Me. Cast all your anxieties on Me. Call upon Me. Pour out your heart to Me. Humble yourself, confess your neediness, embrace your weaknesses and limitations. Yoke yourself to Me. (Matthew 11:28-29; I Peter 5:7, 6)

I’ve had the incredible blessing of witnessing this lesson twice by two different friends with their young children. The illustration of what it looks like to come to Jesus and cast all our anxieties on Him was burned into my mind’s eye and permeated into my heart. Since seeing these two situations play out so beautifully, this is how I see myself with my heavenly Father, or more rightly, how I see my heavenly Father's heart for me.

The kids could have been described as throwing tantrums, but I prefer to describe them as wrestling with the flesh. You could see there was a vicious fight going on within their tiny hearts and minds, coming out in physical and emotional ways. I don't think I'm the only one that has thought to myself, 'I'd like to throw myself down and kick and scream and cry for a bit too!'

Neither mom turned their face from their child. Neither mom cast their child out of their sight, sent them away, or reviled or threatened. Each mom took their child in their arms, on their laps, and drew them close to their bosoms. They quietly, calmly (at least from the outward appearance!) held their thrashing, screaming child, and waited for them to settle into their loving embrace. And settle they did. And then kissed their mom and hugged her back. What greater 'thank you' could a mom desire?!

Stuart Olyott has a lovely video on YouTube about Jesus calling us to ‘Come to Me.’ He compares it to times that his wife was beside herself for mistakes she’d made in homemaking. Because he cared more for his wife than he did about money or food or belongings, his response was to call her to himself, to hug her, and let her know he loves her for her.

Until we know God’s unconditional, unmerited, gracious love, we cannot understand true love. Our hearts are dead and hard, unable to receive, accept, believe in such love. Not only to believe and accept it, but also to love in this selfless way. (I John 4:19)

In this sin-cursed world, love has been distorted and twisted. It’s thought of as something we have to earn or deserve, and therefore something that can be taken back, or lost as punishment. We accept psychology's view on behavior change by using positive and negative reinforcements, reward and punishment systems. And so when we read and hear ‘God is love’, this conditional, works-based, accounting system is what we think God is about, and how to remain in His love, stay on His 'good side'.

The whole Bible is God confronting our distorted, sin-cursed view of Him and of love. It is God demonstrating over and over and over again His relentless pursuit of His children. It is God steadfastly loving us perfectly and completely as we reject His love and call it hate. It is God’s continual and constant call to His own to return to Him, come to Him, fear Him (be in awe of His loving character, desiring to know Him more intimately).

Just as God does not love His children for what we can do for Him, we are not to love God for what He can do for us. God is not a tool in our arsenal to make our lives go as we plan, to have our wills be done on earth, to achieve the self-glorifying desires of our heart.

Satan is the one that distorted our understanding of love, of relationships, and of God. He states his own ignorance in his conversation with God Himself.

“‘Does Job fear God for no reason? Have You not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.’ … ‘Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand and touch his bone and flesh, and he will curse You to Your face.’” (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5)

Until we are born again, and are given hearts of flesh capable of accepting God’s love, we believe and therefore live just as satan. We even use this distorted view to judge God's love for others by their outward appearances, situations and circumstances.

Spurgeon puts it well in his evening devotion from January 22, “Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the Master of the house.” He describes these professions of love for God as ‘after a fashion’ and a ‘poor carnal way’. (In comparison to a rich spiritual way. For the fruit or evidence of having the indwelling Spirit is love.)

We have a tendency to create God in our image, in our likeness. This is completely contrary to the truth, but it does explain the sinful expectations we put on ourselves, on others, on relationships of all kinds. When we disappoint ourselves, and others, we do everything we can to deny it, hide it, twist and distort it so that it’s not our fault, not our responsibility, justify and explain it away for fear of punishment, for fear of losing their 'love'.

But God knows. God knows the truth, the full, ugly truth. God knows our sin, our evil, our depravity more than we know it! And yet, while we are kicking, screaming, thrashing, and pushing Him away, God our Father gently picks us up, takes us into a private place, and quietly and patiently holds us close to His heart until we drop the facade of 'I can do it myself', and we settle into His arms, resting in Him.

God is longsuffering, patient, gentle, kind, gracious, merciful to us all the time, no matter what. Because He cares for us. He cares for you. He cares for me.

-Soli Deo gloria