by C. H. Spurgeon
God, the thrice holy One, cannot love that which is unholy and defiled. He cannot take delight in that which is contrary to Himself. Yet, as He views us in Jesus, He sees neither sin nor iniquity in His people, and therefore can love us with delight.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.” Jer. 31:3
In the exercise of His sovereign will, God loves the people of His choice. Oh, this is astounding, this is marvelous!
Consider this, believer, and be astonished that love should come from God to such a one as yourself.
The Lord loves you!
You give Him pleasure.
He has a delight in you!
He watches for your good.
You are one of His children.
Your name is written on His heart!
Can you catch the thought?
If so there is no praise that can express your gratitude. Solemn silence will perhaps be the only vehicle that shall seem fitting for your soul’s adoration.
Revolve this thought again and again in your soul! He that made the heavens and the earth loves me! He whose angels fly as lightning to obey His behests, the tramp of whose marching shakes both heaven and earth, whose smile is heaven, and whose frown is hell—He loves me!
Infinite, almighty, omniscient, eternal, a mind inconceivable, a spirit that is not to be comprehended; but He, even He has set His love upon me!
Oh, this is astounding, this is marvelous!
God’s dearest love has been hoarded up for worms!
It is saved for the creatures of a day, reserved for us poor ephemera who are and are not—that we should be favored above all that live. It is not for tongues to tell out this wonder, but spiritual minds helped from on high may feel in solemn stillness what a mystery is here.
God loves His people with all His heart!
Consider carefully who it is that loves you, namely, the Most High God, the King of kings! If you estimate it rightly, not only all that you now need, but all that you ever can need, all that the flights of fancy or the conceptions of understanding can bring before you, are contained in that one fact, that the Lord loves you.
Let the worlds be given to whom God may please, as men give husks to swine. If we have His love it is enough, our soul is filled to the brim, and flows over with satisfaction. It is a matchless thing to be loved by Jehovah, the only living God!
God’s love to His people is unvarying—He never loves them less, He cannot love them more. God loves each one of His people as much as if there were only that one created being in all heaven or earth, and as if there were no other object for Him to set His love upon!
As the Father loves Christ, even so does He love His people with a love without a parallel!
There is no love that can any more be compared with God’s, than the faint gleam of a candle can be likened to the blaze of the sun at noonday. He loves His people so much that He gives them all that He has! He gave His own Son, His choicest and greatest treasure, a treasure the like of which heaven and earth could not match! This divine love has no shore!
God will never cease to love the objects of His choice!