LOVE DOES, PART 2

Welcome! I am so glad to have you here for part two of our Love Does study. Over the past few days, we have read through Chapters 5-10. I hope you’re loving these stories and the sweet truths tucked inside. This grouping of chapters has so many great ideas and truths we could discuss, but today I want to just focus on chapter 6, “Go Buy Your Books!” I really went back and forth over this because these chapters are so good, but this is where I’ve landed. Please feel free to discuss the other chapters or other ideas in our comments, if you’d like.

I love Bob’s persistence and determination to get into Law school! I also like the idea that there are times when it is appropriate to sit and wait in front of a closed door, or even to kick it in. There will be times when you get a sense of direction and face opposition; times when it seems nothing is coming together and what you’ve been hoping and praying for may never happen. Don’t be quick to take that as a cue to back down or step away. Seek his wisdom; ask for discernment, and be bold. Think of how the trajectory of Bob’s life would have changed if he had accepted the school’s, “No” and walked away. We may never be reading his book.

When I think about things like this and the weight of our decisions, sometimes I have been tempted to worry about what might happen if I “make the wrong decision” or if whatever I choose isn’t “God’s best” for me. Have you ever had similar thoughts? We could hammer out these questions, and all the theological implications buried within them, but that’s been done before…and by far wiser folks than me. I do, though, just want to offer a little slice of encouragement…in case I’m not the only one who has ever wrestled with those thoughts.

Remember, you are his child. Nothing you do can ever separate you from His love. Yes, He has a plan and a purpose for your life — a specific one, at that. Yes, He is sovereign, and He does see the end from the beginning. But, there is great grace, dear daughter. There is also freedom. He holds you in the palm of His hand; you will never travel outside the reach of His grasp. There is redemption — redemption for our souls, for our mistakes, for our wasted years. He won’t waste one single bit of it.

Psalm 139:5 says, “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”

I LOVE this verse. I reminds me that He surrounds me. I heard someone describe this verse as “being in the ‘hug’ of God — behind & before.” That picture has always stuck with me. It gives me encouragement when I’m faced with a decision that has the potential to carry an extreme amount of weight for my life…or someone else’s.

Here’s that verse in its context:

1O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

When I was a teenager, a very wise woman once told me that when you find yourself in a situation and you’re not sure what to do or what to think, go back to what you know. Go back to what you know to be true of Him. Go back to His Word. Go back to when you know He has been faithful to you; when you know what He has said. That wisdom hasn’t let me down yet. Because He is always faithful and always good, even when I can’t see or hear Him. He never changes.

This past week, an incredible guy I went to college with passed away. He was 29. In the midst of such a sudden loss and heartbreak, He remains constant and faithful to His children. Stu’s last words were, “God is good.” And He is. So, so good. And Stu is experiencing that goodness in all its glory and splendor.

I’m not sure if you’re wrestling over a decision right now, or sitting in front of a closed door wondering if you even heard Him right in the first place, or if you’re in the middle of a storm or a heartbreak that seems almost relentless. Maybe you’re not. But, if I had to guess, I’d say you will probably find yourself in one of those situations sooner than you might think. Remember these verses when you do. Remember their truth when you don’t know what to do.

He holds you and He loves you.

There is freedom and grace and redemption for your souls. Walk in it…boldly…kicking down the doors…to receive all that He has for you.