The Test of Love

 

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3

 

I have been taught about God’s love since I was a child attending Sunday School. I still find it hard to understand, sometimes.

I have talked many times to a lady who is in a very difficult, verbally abusive marriage, to a man who says he is a Christian. She has begun to see a Christian counselor who has pointed out to her that God loves her – even in her difficult circumstances- and will provide and protect her as she lives in that love.

Because of her situation she has often doubted or questioned God’s love, as if her circumstances were a clear indication that He did not love her. As she has brought her own responses more into line with the scriptural design of marriage, showing respect for her husband even as she sets limits on the verbal abuse, she has come to understand God’s love for her. As she has stayed with this man who has repeatedly sinned against her, so God has stayed with her and provided and comforted her even as she was continuing to sin against Him.

God’s love has been evident in ways she wasn’t thinking of or looking for. His love is becoming more and more obvious and real to this friend even though there is no change in her marriage.

Looking at the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, the definition of love from 1 Corinthians 13,  and an example of love in Luke 10:30-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan, I can see that the Bible gives a clear understanding of God’s Love. Without biblical teaching we cannot know what love is.

I come away from these verses with the understanding that love is seen by actions.  If we love another person, we will act like we love. When God loves us, we will see it in His actions.

Many Christians wonder how God loves them in the difficult times. Where is God’s love when others are unkind and we feel totally unprotected? Where is God’s love in the events that take homes or property or even lives? I believe that God is sovereign over all these circumstances.  If the test of love is action, how is He loving in them?

Deuteronomy 31:8  says, “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

In God’s love, He sees us through. Do we believe it?