Do You Love Me?

“Do you love me?” My three-year-old asked the doctor. He was lying on a gurney, wide-eyed and trepidatious. His brown eyes peered into the face of the stranger, who was about to stitch up a deep cut over his eye. It was the first day of preschool. My tiny but fearless child had gone down the slide on his tummy. His head caught on a rough spot. Like a knife, the steel cut through his skin just above the eye. “Do you love me?” was his innocent and heartfelt question to the man standing above his little body. My youngest son, Jonathan, was staring up and pleading for reassurance. Startled by the question, the doctor paused, smiled, and responded, “Yes, in a generic sort of way.”

I often ask the same question of God. Do you love me? I might not say it aloud or fully recognize the thought in my mind. But I ask it each time I’m fearful, experience disappointment, loss, or unexpected circumstance. The question is there, and I wonder, does God truly see and know what I am going through. The difference is God does not answer me, “Yes, in a generic sort of way.”

God answers me as a Father who loves me in a very personal way. He is not a stranger to me, and I am not a stranger to Him. He knows my name.

When I am fearful and worried, my human heart needs reassurance as I ask, “Do you love me, God?” He gently reminds me, “Yes, Child, I love you.” Remember these promises:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27

“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your faithfulness, Lord, is everlasting;”
Psalm 138:8a

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Matthew 10:29-31

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16

God’s promises of His unique and deep love for us is endless. His love is not generic; it is very personal. Like my three old son, I look up expectantly for reassurance. And God assures me of His deep love, knowledge, and thoughts toward me as I soak in the truth of Psalm 139:1-18:

“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me.”
Psalm 139:1-18

Thank you, Lord, that even in our questioning, you love us with a tender, patient, and everlasting love.

Blessings,

Personal Parables Practices

What area of your life do you need reassurance?
Will you let the truth of God’s word comfort and encourage you?
Are you practicing being still before God in order to hear His comforting voice?