Jun 11, 2021
Does God’s Love Decrease When I Fail Him?
An invitation for us to experience God’s faithfulness and grace amid any failure
Have you ever asked this question, “Is God moving in the midst of Pandemic?” Or Have you felt like heaven is also on lockdown? Pandemic anxiety is real.
And the damage isn’t just affecting our economy and our mental health. Sadly, it damages our spirituality, forcing us to distance ourselves from one another physically, and the temptation of isolation is just right at the corner.
Left unchecked, you’ll find yourself doing the very thing that you swore not to do; going back to your old life.
While we think of it as something new or unique, this is quite common in the Bible.
Through the Red Sea
“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
‘I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” (Exodus 15:1–2, ESV).
Exodus 15 was the song that Moses and the Israelites sang after God delivered them in the hands of Pharaoh and his army. They just saw God parted the red sea.
But, if we go back to Exodus 14, moments before God parts the red sea, we’ll notice how they responded when they saw that Pharaoh and his army were pursuing them.
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’” (Exodus 14:10–12, ESV).
God’s people cried out to grumble and doubt God’s capability to deliver them in the hands of Pharaoh and his army. This is a heartbreaking scene. Here are two reasons why:
- The Israelites, who experience how awesome God is, cry out in fear. If there’s someone or a group of people who should know how God is transcendent and all-mighty, it should be them. They just saw how God sent the 10 plagues in Egypt, how God passed over them, saving every firstborn child in their midst, and then set them free from slavery.
- It is heartbreaking because I’m so much like them. In a time of success and comfort, I praise God, but when trials march after me, my initial response is to cry out of fear and worry.
But still, God saves them. He delivered them again.
And again, and again.
God’s miracles are not limited to our capabilities to understand and believe.
God moves based on His will and purpose. His invitation is for us to wait and see that He can do wonders amid any crisis, difficulties, and even a pandemic.
“And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.’” (Exodus 14:13–14, ESV).
In the wilderness
If we go back to another chapter, in Exodus 13, we’ll see why God led the Israelites in this kind of situation.
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, ‘Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.’
But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.” (Exodus 13:17–18, ESV).
God already knew that His people have stubborn hearts, that the moment they see war or hardship, they will return to Egypt.
The wilderness is the only way for his people to learn and experience God’s faithfulness and grace throughout generations. And passing through the Red Sea seals the deal.
God knew that the moment we followed Him, there would be a time that we’ll fail. He’s not surprised to see us fail, but He’s prepared to rescue us endlessly.
The wilderness in our lives are places where we truly experience God’s faithfulness and grace. That’s just His mysterious ways.
Final thoughts
Deuteronomy is the conclusion of the five books of Moses. In this passage, God clarifies that the long journey in the wilderness was not only a punishment (see Numbers 32:13) but also a test.
“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:2–3, ESV).
The amazing part of this revelation is, God already knew what’s in our hearts. So why did God said, “that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart?”
He wants you to see what is in your heart. God wants us to see it for ourselves so that our obedience to Him will be a pure loving decision and an act of full surrender.
He knew us, yet still, He loves us anyway.
We may feel that God abandoned us sometimes, or we may forget how awesome God is in our lives, but that doesn’t mean His love decreases. Our walk with God may never be perfect, but we can always go back to the place where He found us.
“This is our hope, that Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2–4, ESV).
He is ultimately worthy of our praise and worship!
