God Loves You More
Than You Could Possibly Imagine

I’d like to share an excerpt from a book I’m writing, and it’s about the most wonderful, fulfilling love we could ever experience on this earth: the love of God — a personal love directed toward each of us from the fiery lovesick heart of the Great Artist, the Uncaused Cause of All Good Life and Love, the Warrior Poet of Warrior Poets Who Fights for Our Hearts.

This Ancient of Days is the God who calls Himself the Bridegroom and His people the Bride, according to the Bible. Anyone — yes, anyone — who enters by faith (not by good deeds or shining moralism) into the Bridegroom’s gleaming temple through the Gate (Jesus) can draw near and have a close relationship with the Living God — a relationship that will last forever.

Although many turn away from a belief in God when great suffering comes — or because suffering exists — He gently reminds us that all of the horrors of history will be washed away in the blink of an eye when eternity comes. The greatest cries of suffering will fade into nothing as age after age of eternal fellowship, celebration, and joy heals and binds up the brokenhearted until all scars of this old, soon-to-expire universe have vanished.

And, while we are on this earth, the sharpest pains can propel us deeper into the uncharted fathoms, into the secret place of His unseen Presence, closer to the heart of the One who knows our pain — close enough to hear his heartbeat and find comfort in His kindness and His words of encouragement.

It is in that moment, when we’ve finally surrendered and accepted His companionship in the midst of our sorrow, that we are shocked to find that He feels our pain more intensely than we do.

C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew: The Chronicles of Narnia provides a glimpse of this.

In the story, Digory, a boy who causes a disaster just after Aslan creates Narnia, stands before Aslan to give account for the terrible damage he has done. Aslan commands Digory to go on a quest to right his wrong. Digory, whose only desire is to find magic that will cure his mother’s terminal illness, debates whether to ask Aslan for help in curing his mother. Digory even considers trying to negotiate with Aslan and bend the Lion to his will. But then he realizes, as he stands staring at the Lion’s massive feet and claws, that “the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with.”[i]

But then, as Digory’s eyes drift up to look Aslan full in the face for the first time, he discovers something shocking:

…the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

“My son, my son,” said Aslan. “I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another…[ii]

After Digory sees this miracle in the eyes of the Lion, he resolves to do whatever Aslan asks, though he does not know how he will ever accomplish the difficult task. But when Digory finally agrees to the quest, Aslan does this: “The Lion drew a deep breath, stooped its head even lower and gave him a Lion’s kiss. And at once Digory felt that new strength and courage had gone into him.”[iii]

Although God might not remove the task ahead of us or magically rescue us from our trial in an instant, He promises to be with us and give us strength, as the “Lion’s kiss” did for Digory.

It’s a game-changer when we realize how much God loves us, how passionate and zealous He is for each one of us, and how He knows and feels our pain more than we do.

Psalm 56:8 (NKJV) confirms this when it says:

“You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?”

Jesus confirmed that this painstaking, detailed record-keeping on God’s part is true when He preached that God even knows the number of hairs on your head.

If there is anyone on this earth who has kept every tear in a bottle that they’ve ever cried and made a record in a book about each tear — what caused it, when it was shed — then I might admit that someone on earth experiences their own pain as fully as God experiences it.

God loves you more than you could possibly imagine.

The meaning of life is not found in any earthly pursuit — in careers, money, friends, romance, pleasure, family, vacations, or even in mastering religion or becoming a guru of the world’s many philosophies.

The meaning of life is discovering how much God loves you, how He left Heaven to become a human being and die for you — like the stories of true love where the person goes on a long journey and dies to save their beloved — and then spending every waking moment of your life wading into that love like someone luxuriating in a wide, bottomless, beautiful sea.

[i] Lewis, C. S. (2008-10-29). The Magician’s Nephew: The Chronicles of Narnia (p. 168). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid, 169.