God Still Loves You
But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 7:8 (NIV)
When I'm standing in the thick and dense foliage of a wilderness where I can't find a pathway—meaning, when all my thoughts are streaming negative and everything I'm thinking is running into a dead end, and I'm out of answers, and I'm too tired to take another step, and every step causes me to cramp because I'm dehydrated of every positive thought, and I don't know in what direction to go because it all looks like endless blockage—when I get to that stage in any season I’m walking through, I always keep enough faith to believe that while everything around me is changing, there is one thing I know won't change: God still loves me.
When I'm standing in the thick and dense foliage of a wilderness where I can't find a pathway—meaning, when all my thoughts are streaming negative and everything I'm thinking is running into a dead end, and I'm out of answers, and I'm too tired to take another step, and every step causes me to cramp because I'm dehydrated of every positive thought, and I don't know in what direction to go because it all looks like endless blockage—when I get to that stage in any season I’m walking through, I always keep enough faith to believe that while everything around me is changing, there is one thing I know won't change: God still loves me.
No hardship, confusion, frustration, or setback is going to make me stop believing that God is stronger than my circumstances. God always shapes His will with our good in mind, unto His glory.
Whenever Israel was walking in total surrender and obedience, it was imaged by the fertility of the land, the health of the nation, protection against their enemies, and prosperity flowing in abundance. On the other hand, when Israel fell in open rebellion, you always knew it because there was decimation of the land, opening of the hedge for the enemy to penetrate, disease among the people, and poverty blanketing the nation. But here's what I want you to realize: in both circumstances, God loved Israel.
So please remember, when you're in that hard season, it doesn't mean God has stopped loving you. It means He is trying to move you to another level of faith. When you get to a place where all you have left is God, call on Him. He still loves you.
