Therefore know, without any doubt, & understand that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who is keeping His covenant & His steadfast loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love Him & keep His commandments.
Deuteronomy 7:9
In the Amplified Classic version, it says “know, recognize, and understand” and I really do think there are three levels to God’s love from our perspective.
Knowing God loves us is elementary. Most of us grew up singing Jesus Love Me as a child. You started singing it didn’t you! But do we know He loves us WITHOUT ANY DOUBT? It’s easy to know God’s love when everything is ok but what about when everything is not ok?
I remember when my youngest son was just a few weeks old and it was January time, even here in Florida it gets cold. The heater was blowing cold air so I went to check and the unit outside was completely frozen. I just stood there sobbing, yelling at God, do you not love me? Do you not care? I was already on the edge but now the basic comfort of heat was gone too. Those are the moments we need to know without doubting.
I love the story of Doubting Thomas. I always heard it as a child as a cautionary tale to not doubt God. Thomas was struggling with the whole situation and even though the disciples had told him they had seen a risen Jesus, he needed to see with his own eyes. Jesus comes back to them and his first words are “Peace to you”. PEACE! Then He goes straight to Thomas and all the conditions Thomas had listed to the disciples, Jesus tells him to do and then He says, “Do not be unbelieving, but stop doubting and believe”. Jesus gave Thomas what he needed to KNOW WITHOUT ANY DOUBT.
This lead to the moment when Thomas RECOGNIZES Jesus for who He was “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:29). At that moment as he touched His hands and His side I think Thomas would have had flashes of Calvary and what love did for him. All that Jesus had spoken of before His death had come to pass. He understood the depth of God’s love. He had watched the whole horrific event take place and saw the suffering but here now in front him He understood without any doubt that He was a saved man and loved by God.
In the NLT it says God “lavishes His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commandments.” Lavish means to bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on. So God’s love is not just unfailing but it’s lavish and extravagant. His kindness is loving too.
It will take us walking through some dark times and wrestling with Daunters to be able to know, recognize and understand God’s love. It’s only in those places that we can truly see what it means to be loved by God.
Is there something, like Thomas, that you need from God so that you can know Him without any doubt? Ask Him and just like He showed up in that room for Thomas He will show up and ask you to stop doubting and believe.