“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16 KJV).
A prominent atheist once reasoned like this: “If God were good, He would want people to be happy. If God were all-powerful, He could do what He wants. People are not happy. So, either God is not good, or He is weak. In either case, He is not fit to be God.” Have you ever questioned, in any way, God's nature? You know, things like His sovereignty or goodness or power or knowledge or mercy? It isn’t very often we doubt whether He is in control – or whether He knows – or whether He is powerful. The one aspect of God’s nature that we usually question is whether He loves us. That was the question His disciples asked in Mark 4 when they were in a storm in the boat thinking they were going to die and Jesus was sleeping in the back of the ship: “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” How many times have you asked, “Jesus, don’t you care?” Sometimes, things or circumstances just don't make sense. We see or experience unreasonable tragedies or unexplainable diseases or deaths or unwarranted suffering or hardships; and we wonder, "Why?" That is usually when we question God's love for us. But the fact is that God's love for us was settled on the Cross. That has never changed and will never change. There are many things that we may experience in our lives that will challenge what we believe about the love of God but against every voice that questions God's love is the picture of Christ’s dying form on a cross. God is Love. This is the message of 1 John 4:16: God IS Love. His very nature is love. Because of that, God NEVER functions contrary to His Nature. Never in your life will God ever express His will toward you except that it is an expression of perfect love. He can't. God's kind of love always seeks the very best for you. Therefore, He can never give you second best. His nature will not let Him. That can be so very hard to see, much less believe, during times of deep loss and sorrow or seasons of pain and suffering. But that’s just it – the message of His love is written FOR those very terrible times when we are desperately looking for something to hold on to. Isaiah tells us that He carried our sickness and experienced our sorrows. This means He knows how we feel – not just intellectually – but experientially. He carried (He experienced) your pain – your grief – your sorrow – in Himself on the Cross. Earlier, in this same letter, John said, "This is how we know what real love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us…" The Cross forever serves as the proof that God is love.
