The Steadfast Love of the Lord

If God Loves Me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open? was a devotional book I read as a teenager growing up in the 80s. It had quite the loaded title. There is that lingering question we all ask at times: if God loves me, why are things not going my way? It is a universal tension, but it is also a thought rooted in doubt. Satan loves to slip in small seeds of doubt, quiet suggestions that make us question God’s love. When those seeds grow, we become tempted to listen to lies instead of truth. Here are a few of those questions that creep into our hearts:

“If God loves me, why shouldn’t my life be easier?”

“If God loves me, wouldn’t He want me to be happy?”

“If God loves me, why does life hurt so much?”

Even Jesus faced temptation. Just think about it. Can you imagine skipping meals for a day? Maybe. Ten days? That is a stretch. Twenty? Almost unthinkable. The Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness, completely alone, for forty days and forty nights.

That is exactly where Jesus found Himself in Matthew 4. Weak, hungry, and worn down in every human way. It is in that moment that Satan steps onto the scene. He knows the timing. He knows the angle. He begins suggesting quiet thoughts for Jesus to consider.

“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down and let your angels catch you.”

“If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.”

All these offers were tempting to Jesus because they touched real desires. Who would not want to eat bread after forty days without food? Who does not want to prove their worth or be admired? We all want to be loved, accepted, and acknowledged. That desire is human.

With Jesus, He offers another way. It is a different way to live and a different way to think. What He gives is real love that is unconditional and endures forever. I am thankful that Jesus withstood every temptation and refused to give in because of His love for us. Could we ever truly grasp how deep His love goes?

This is where Psalm 107 fits beautifully. All throughout the Bible we find examples of how God uses pain and suffering and turns it toward our good, and Psalm 107 is one of the clearest pictures we have of that. It tells the stories of four groups of people who reached their lowest point and experienced hardships such as:

• deepest gloom

• hunger and thirst

• trouble

• distress

Did their problems mean God did not love them? No. God was working in the middle of their hardest moments, just as He works in ours. Your friends and family will disappoint you, and you will disappoint them. You will face temptations and battles within yourself and with others. Everything around you will change, but God and His love for you will remain constant.

Psalm 107 repeats the same line again and again as each group finds rescue: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love.” When you are tempted to doubt God’s love or run to other things for comfort, turn to Christ. Remember the truth about His steadfast love for you.

“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord” (Psalm 107:43, ESV).