If anyone deserves to be loved, it is the LORD God almighty! But our love for God is directly related to how well we understand His love for us. In Psalm 8, as the Psalmist looks at all of God’s handiwork and all His creation, he is amazed.
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him”...Psalm 8:3-4
The Psalmist, who most likely is David, is amazed that in all of God’s majesty and with all His power to create, He is still mindful of man and cares for him. Then in verses 5-8, we read that God not only cares for us, but He has made us a little lower than the angels and has given us authority over His creation. He has given us dominion over the works of His hands.
It will probably be impossible on this side of eternity to fully comprehend the value our God places on each one of us. Still, it should always be comforting and encouraging to know that He has put us in charge of His creation and created us to have a relationship with Him. The inspired word of God reveals very clearly His care and His love for man, as well as His endless desire for man to be in a loving, obedient relationship with Him.
David prays in Psalm 17:8,
“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings…”
Once again David understood that He had value in the eyes of His God, and he wanted to remain as the “apple of His eye.”
The thought of being the apple of God’s eye is a beautiful reality for those who walk humbly with God in this life. But, just like with David, that understanding doesn’t come automatically. David had sought after his God and put his trust in Him since he was young.
The more we seek God today through diligent study of His word and consistent prayer, the more we come to understand how much He cares for us and loves us.
In Isaiah 40:28-31 the prophet offers words of comfort and encouragement to Israel during their captivity in Babylon:
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint”
In this passage we find 4 qualities of the LORD that should encourage us to excel in our love for Him:
- Everlasting – The LORD is the everlasting God. In what is considered to be part of a prayer of Moses, Psalm 90:2 says,”Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” God has always existed and always will. In a world where everything around us is changing, our LORD is eternal and will never change.
- Creator – The LORD is the Creator of the ends of the earth. Everything that has been created has been created by Him and for Him and that includes us. We have been created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7) and He has given us authority over the rest of His creation (Psalm 8:5-8)
- Unwearied – The LORD does not faint or grow weary. Even the young will grow tired, but God will always be there to renew the strength of those who are willing to wait for Him. Since our LORD is everlasting, since He is the creator of the universe, and since He will never grow weary, we should always wait on Him to provide for us and help us in this life.
- Unsearchable – The LORD’s understanding is Unsearchable. His understanding and wisdom are so great man cannot search it out. There are no boundaries to the knowledge and understanding of our LORD. Paul says in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Who better to trust and obey, than the one whose understanding goes far beyond our own?
Just as these words from Isaiah would have been a comfort and strength to God’s people living away from their homeland in Babylon, they should be a comfort and strength to us today while we look forward to an eternity in that heavenly home. As we come to a greater understanding of who the LORD God is, the greater our love for Him will be.
David certainly knew His God, and because of that He trusted in Him and he loved Him with all His heart! May we be a people whose knowledge of our Lord and His amazing attributes compel us to excel in our love for Him!
To God Be the Glory! Excel Still More!