Today is Valentine’s Day, so it feels appropriate to discuss the subject of love. Of course, much has been said (and can be said) on this topic, but for now I will focus on a part of God’s love that struck me as I read Psalm 106. Early in the Psalm, we read, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” So far, so good. Then in verse 7 we find these words of lament: “When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses.” Verse 21 echoes this failure as it tells us, “They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.” I remember thinking, as a younger man, that if God would just show Himself, then I could truly believe in Him and have an incredible faith that moves mountains. Well, as it turns out, God’s people did witness His miracles, including the plagues in Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea, and yet they forgot God and turned away from Him.

In spite of the many failures of God’s people, we read these amazing words about God’s love in Psalm 106: 43-45: “Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.” Why would God show such mercy and grace? Why would he help those who are so clearly undeserving? It’s because of “His great love.” I don’t deserve this kind of love and neither do you. But God is love and He acts accordingly toward His children.

I thought I should write something about “Senior Night.” Here’s the deal: my son is a senior and tonight, for the last time, he will play a home basketball game at his school. As I was thinking through this, my good friend texted me out of the blue and said, “Praying for you on Senior Night.” Coincidence? I think not.

I’m a dad. It’s who I am. It’s easily the best job I’ve ever had, but also the hardest. I get to play and have fun with my kids and see their great joys and successes; I also get to watch them endure pain and sadness and suffering. But I don’t watch for long. If my children cry for help, I run to them and do whatever I possibly can to ease their pain. I want to rescue them; I long to make their suffering go away.

God’s a Dad. It’s who He is. When the Israelites had lived as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years and were crying out for help, God heard them, He saw their suffering, and He wanted to rescue them. In fact, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and commanded him to go rescue His children from slavery.

¹⁶ “Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

To paraphrase and summarize the thoughts of John Piper, “praying continually” means at least three things: maintaining a spirit of dependence that permeates all we do; praying repeatedly and often; and not giving up on prayer.

Has your breath ever, quite literally, been taken away by the created world in which we live? Have you ever gasped in amazement at the majesty of what surrounds us every day? Once, while sitting on an airplane, high above the clouds, I looked out the window and actually had to catch my breath because of what I saw. The indescribable beauty stunned me. And it happened simply because God spoke. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:1-2, that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” From the verses that follow, we know that God spoke and this world came to be.

“’The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they praised God because of me” (Galatians 1:23-24). The power of a changed life is the greatest testimony one can have as a Christian. And what more radical life change could one undergo than the persecutor becoming the persecuted?

 As Christians, our regenerated lives shine brightly in this dark world as evidence to the fact that Jesus is alive and He is changing the lives of those who follow Him. We testify by our words and actions, most significantly through the fruit that God produces in our lives, marked especially by our love for Him and for other people.

¹⁴ “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too [Jesus] shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-15; 17)