Do You Feel God’s Love?

This week, Steve and I will be hosting Cousin’s Camp for ten of our grandkids. It will be wild and wonderful. There will be sleeping bags all over our house! We’ll do adventures, a campfire with s’mores, and swimming, but we’ll also do Bible study time. Our theme verse for camp this year is Zephaniah 3:17. We’re going with the older NIV version:

“The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save,
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

We want our grandkids to know that the LORD loves and delights in them—and He actually sings over them. And do you know what? He sings over you as well! Imagine! We serve a singing God. A God so tender that He wants us to not just know in our heads that He loves us, but to feel His love.

That’s where the problem comes for many of us. We know intellectually that God loves us, but do we feel His love? Like many of you, I was raised in a culture of Christianity that pushed intellectual thought over feelings. I get it. But here’s the thing: it left me knowing cognitively that God loved me, but not really experiencing the wonder of feeling loved by God. It wasn’t until many years into my adult life that I began to feel loved and cherished by God. He takes great delight in me. He doesn’t love me simply because He has made a commitment—He actually delights. And He delights in you!

Let go of any shame you are carrying and consider: God delights in you. He is madly and categorically in love with you. Nothing you do can make Him love you more or less. His love is completely overwhelming.

Here is a challenge for you this week. Take the five parts of this verse and consider what each one means for you personally:

• The LORD your God is with you. How have you experienced God’s presence in the last week? How can you raise awareness of His presence in the busyness of your life?
• He is mighty to save. Where do you need God’s saving help this week—in your marriage, with your kids, in the workplace, or in a health crisis?
• He will take great delight in you. In what ways do you feel God’s deep delight in you? How have you experienced His delight in tangible ways?
• He will quiet you with His love. Where in your life do you need God to quiet your stress or anxiety? Where do you need His peace to bring calm?
• He will rejoice over you with singing. Sit with that phrase for a bit and imagine God singing over you. Is He singing a lullaby or a victory song?

Friend, here’s what I know: God wants you to experience His deep love for you. So take some time with this verse. Soak in it this week, and hey—I’d love to hear your reflections. Feel free to email me your thoughts. And on a personal note, pray that the ten grandchildren coming to Cousin’s Camp will experience the love of God more deeply—and feel free to pray for Steve and me for energy!

Our Summer Book Club continues—we’re in Week 6! This week we’re talking about being attentive! Be sure to listen to the Connected Mom Podcast that goes with this week to hear about the most epic candy fall of all time!