Home isn't home without you - Part 2

Excerpt: If a truth is true for all of us, it's no less true for each of us. If God 'so loved the world', He 'so loves' you. As much as He loves His Son. And that's a lot! Can even God love all of us deeply? Uniquely? Ask a Mom.

(Previously posted on April 9, 2019)

You matter to God! Why? He’s a father! Who loves each of us as much as He loves any of us.
Jesus said the Father loves you as much as He loves Him. Jn.17:23 It's possible. Ask a parent.

There is a place in your heart for God alone. A place no one except God Himself can fill. But there’s also a place in His heart for you. And at His table. A place that no one but you can fill.

For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.
Isaiah 49: 13,14

In Part 1, we looked at how God, like most parents has a unique love for each of His children. I’ve heard this a lot. Yet like Israel, I find it far easier to believe in His indifference than His love.

Despite the declaration in vs. 13 that God comforts His people and has compassion on them,
that’s not how Israel sees God. They think He’s forsaken them. Their God has forgotten them.

Ever heard the declaration that God loves you yet felt like it’s true for everyone except you?
Why is that? There could be many reasons. The shame of our sin makes it hard to believe it. The pain of unanswered prayer. Unexplained tragedy. Unresolved issues. Unrealized dreams. It can make it hard for me to believe I'm loved. At least in the personal way I'm told He loves.

But this week I heard another reason which I can relate to even more than those mentioned. Nancy once told her pastor Blaine Smith why she resisted giving her life to Christ for so long. She said it was simply because God’s love seemed too universal to her. Here’s what she said.

“I had no doubt that God loved me, yet it made no difference to me -
for the fact is that God loves everyone. And if God loves everybody,
what’s so special about the fact that he loves me?”
Nancy

God made this beautiful earth for your pleasure. So you and 7.5 billion others can feel special!

Blaine says the way we talk about God can imply there’s no uniqueness in our relationship with Him. ‘We speak of Him loving everyone, loving them equally, impartially, the same way.’ That’s great but the problem is we crave individuality. We long to be originals not copies. Not only in our work. But in our relationships. We want to be loved with an exclusive kind of love. 

I want to know I’m special to my Dad in a way no one else is. That He treasures me in a way He treasures no one else. The love we share is ours alone. I matter to Him in a way that's unique.
But isn’t that a lot to expect of a father with so many children? Is exclusive love even possible?
Listen to what God says to those who think He’s forgotten them. Or assume He doesn't notice

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion
on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
Isaiah 49:15

Notice that God shows Israel what His heart is like by comparing Himself to a nursing mother.
No one can love a child quite like her mother. She can love that girl in a way no one else could. Not even Dad. You'd expect her to love her child more than any other child. Unless the other child is hers too. Moms can somehow love all her kids as much as she loves each. So can God.

But I must clarify what I don’t mean. God loves all of us and each of us. But He doesn't love all of us the same exact way. Lisa Bevere said ‘God does not love us equally. He loves us uniquely. To love us the same would mean we're replaceable.' Not special. Our absence wouldn't matter.

She also said “Each of us are fashioned uniquely. And we are loved uniquely. When that second, third or fourth child is born, your love is not divided. It multiplies. Your love for each child is unique. Each child awakens your parental love in a different way. Interestingly you may love something unique about one child that is the opposite trait of what you love in another.”

That’s what God's like. He loves the world and every soul He created to live in it. Exclusively.
The Scriptures are full of stories where God takes notice of individuals that no one else sees.

The Lord found Hagar alone in the wilderness. She called Him ‘the God who sees me’. Gen. 16
God said of David “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart". Acts 13
Jesus noticed a poor widow with a meager offering. Behind the gift He saw her heart. Luke 21
Jesus called Himself a shepherd who ‘calls His own sheep by name and leads them out’. Jn. 10
Jesus heard that they threw a man out of the synagogue. So He went looking for him. Jn 9:35
There’s more joy in heaven over ONE sinner who repents than 99 who don’t need to. Lk.15:7

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
Isaiah 49:16

As God engraved the law on stone so it's permanent, He said He's done this with our names. 
He has made a permanent record of our names in a place He’ll always be reminded of us. His hands. Inscribed with nails. Written in blood. Most parents have photos of their kids in a wallet or phone. Why? Behind each face is a child we deeply love. It's why we love to see their faces.

This story makes me look egotistical. But since I am, why not? I saw a glorious sunset one night and thought “God painted this sunset just for me!” But a voice said ‘Seriously Jack! You really think you're that special?’ I said 'Yes!' Then me, myself and I argued over who is God’s favorite. While secretly doubting what I wanted to believe, I recalled a statement made by Dick Bolles.
 
He said that if a truth is universally true for all of us, it's no less individually true for each of us. If He made the world for 'our' enjoyment, He also made it for 'my' enjoyment. And for 'yours'.  The Father loves His Son and He loves you. How much? As much as He loves His firstborn son.

Reflection: I have other stories of how God loved me in unique ways. But so do you. And you need yours more than mine. Revisit your God stories. As you do, recall the details we so easily forget. How would life be different had it not happened? I think you’ll see God in the details. You'll see you were on His mind. Why? You're in His heart. He has a place in there just for you