Loving God with Nothing

My gosh, I love God. Really I do. He’s just so darn good to me, I can’t say enough. I freaking love him! I love him so freaking much, that it’s hard to explain without expletives.

Why do I love God so much? Because he is good. He’s so darn good!

 

I found this psalm awhile back. Today I feel like I know exactly what David was talking about.

Psalms 18:1-19

“¹ I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. ² The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. ³ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁴ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. ⁵ The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. ⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. ⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. ⁸ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. ⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. ¹³ The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. ¹⁵ Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. ¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁸ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”

 

I can honestly say that I am in a worst place than I have ever been in my life. I am completely alone. I never see my friends or family. I am making no income. I don’t even really have a job. I have no prospects for a future. Every dream that I have ever had, I’ve seen die before my very eyes. I see no light on the horizon.

But among all of this, God has never left my side and he has always been just a prayer away. Nothing has changed. Nothing has improved…only my mindset and relationship to the Lord… But you know what? My God hasn’t changed either. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still the same God that loved me enough to send his son to die for me. Why should I expect God to only bless me in life? He’s not my God, in the sense that I can order him around like a dog and expect him to do my bidding! I deserve NOTHING in life. All that I deserve is death. That is the punishment for my sins. So, I cannot blame him for the bad things that happen, but praise God, I will honor him for all the good things that come my way. Theyare the blessings that I do not deserve. As James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Every bad thing that happens in my life occurs because of something that I did or because of something that someone else did. It’s not God’s fault that it happened, nor do I have any right to blame God for not protecting me from it. He’s not my servant! I AM HIS! How did we, as humans, get such a distorted mentality on this? God owes us absolutely nothing! Nothing! But he gave us his life! His son! We owe him everything! Absolutely everything! Still, he asks for nothing from us…nothing but our love and faithfulness.

Imagine that you are walking through the park in Washington DC, when out of the blue, a man with a gun jumps out from behind a bush and is about to mercilessly shoot you. You are scared, but you have no way to save yourself. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone in jogging clothes leaps in front of you and takes a hard bullet to the chest. The criminal runs away in fright, and as you stand there in shock and horror, you now realize that the man who is lying at your feet, panting in a pool of blood, is the President of the United States! Amazingly, he survives his injury and the two you create a sort of bonding friendship due to the event.

How would you treat the President after this? Would you be so greatful for what he had done, that you would become a loyal servant of his? Would you do any favor that he was to ask of you? Would you always answer the phone when he calls you? Would you constantly tell others about what a wonderful person he was? Or, would you take advantage of the fact that you know the President and constantly ask favors of him? Would you become angry that he didn’t call the police department and have them drop your speeding charge? Would you be resentful towards him, when he doesn’t write you that Letter of Recommendation? Would you stop talking to him, after he doesn’t slip a check into your birthday card?

How foolish we are to think that God owes us anything! He has given each of us so much more than we deserve and every good thing that he does for us from now until kingdom come only adds to the excess of his goodness. So, don’t hate God for the bad…Bad things happen. Rather, praise him for the good, because every good thing is just another gift that you don’t deserve, from a man who owes you absolutely nothing.

God doesn’t do anything to us or for us because he is obligated to. Everything that he does for us, he does because he loves us, and he wants to. It brings him joy to shower his children with blessings. If you find yourself disrespecting that which he gives you, and you start feeling like you deserve more, then maybe, like me, you have allowed yourself to become spoiled.