GOD’S LOVE
God’s love for us is quite literally unfathomable. And sometimes it can even seem unbelievable. When we take a long look at humanity, or even better, a long, honest look at ourselves, it seems comical that God could and does love humans. But He does.
Of course we believe God loves us, on paper. But what about on our pillows? What anxieties keep us awake at night that come from a lack of believing, on a gut-level, that God loves us?
Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. [1]
The reason Peter gives us for casting our anxieties on Jesus is that He cares. YAHWEH—the one who upholds the universe by the Word of His power—cares. For you.
Don’t believe me? Just watch!
AXE HEAD
So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.[2]
God defied the laws of physics by the hands of the prophet, Elisha, to miraculously cause iron to float. Why? Because someone lost their buddy’s hand-tool. “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Can you imagine all of the other things God is concerned with at any given moment? He’s literally overseeing the entire earth’s population and meticulously watching over His Word to perform it, and yet He chooses to concern Himself with retrieving something dropped in the water. Why?
Because He cares.
WINE
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you… When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in him. [3]
Some close friends of Mary ran out of wine. And the Son of Man performs His first and arguably most notable miracle in His ministry. Why would God in the flesh concern himself with this?
Because He cares.
Imagine the relief these people felt when God did this for them. It seems to me that God is honoring them by covering their shame from losing a borrowed item or not being able to serve guests adequately. I don’t know for sure, but it smells like Jesus to me.
BELIEVE
Believing the love God has for us may very well be the most effective thing we can do to advance the gospel. What I mean by that is, when Jesus offered His “High Priestly Prayer” recorded by John, He says:
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
God intends on gathering the lost through the word of those who are already His. That they would believe in Him because of His disciples. That we may share oneness together with Jesus so that the world may believe:
That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. [4]
So that the world may know that you loved them even as you loved me. Imagine if the world knew that God loves them the way He loves His perfectly obedient Son!
God is responsible for a lot of things. One might say He’s “busy.” But He’s not preoccupied. And He is available. Yes, He upholds the world by the Word of His power.[5] Yes, He is dealing with crises the world over. Of course He cares about all the big stuff going on in the world. But what a comfort it is to know He cares about you feeling anxious too. He cares when you feel embarrassed at your wedding or when you lose your friend’s axe in the water. God cares.
Knowing that God is not too busy to care about little old me fills me with so much confidence to bear His name and testify of His goodness to the world around me so that maybe they will believe God because of my words.
John confidently referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”[6] Lord, may we experience your care for us in such a way that we might, along with John, say:
We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.[7]
Maranatha!
Jordan Scott lives in the Muslim world with his wife and children. He is the host of THE WAY podcast and author of A Call to Compel: The Simplicity, Urgency, and Joy of Making Disciples, available now from FAI Publishing. Jordan can be reached by email at jordan@faimission.org.
[1] 1 Peter 5:7b
[2] 2 Kings 6:4-7
[3] John 2:2-5,9-11
[4] John 17:20-23
[5] Hebrews 1:3
[6] John 13:23
[7] 1 John 4:16
