Valley Princess

Learning to Love: Day 15

The God I Serve

I do not understand Your love
and know I never will.
I have no appeal to Your eyes.
I have no trade or skill.
My heritage is meaningless.
Sin bred me like a brute.
My knowledge serves to no avail.
I bring no rich tribute.
I never did deserve Your love
And know I never will.
Like Martha, I hurry to serve,1
But You teach me, “Be still.”2
Elijah kept the quiet place
Within the wind and where
The ground convulsed, the cave threatened,
Yet You were the whisper.
I never could expire Your love
And know I never will.
I run away so frequently
But You accept me still.
I fail to put You first in life.
I erect other gods,
Yet You remain my Good Shepherd
With Your staff and king’s rod.

Thank you, Jesus.
You never give up on me
Or let me go.

  1. Luke 10:40-41
  2. Psalms 46:10; Luke 10:39
  3. 1 Kings 19:9-13

Day 15

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 118:1).

The Hebrew and Greek in the Bible use several words for love with more distinction than English’s single word. A Hebrew word for love God used for His people was hesed, which is an unmerited love. God wants us to know that there is nothing special about us or our performance level that makes Him love us. He loves us simply because He does. We are made in His image. We are precious in His sight. Israeli author, public speaker, Bible teacher, and tour guide Amir Tsarfati, in his book, The Last Hour, says it well. Using ancient Israel as an example for understanding a believer’s relationship with God, he writes,

God’s act of choosing, also called his “election,” is purely an outflowing of His sovereignty. He saw, He determined, He chose. This means that election is in no way performance-based. There is nothing that Israel did that caused them to be the chosen nation. They were no holier, wiser, wealthier, more powerful or more fun to be around. In Fact, when God chose Israel, “they” were just “he”–one man, Abraham–an exile without a nation or any land. He had not accomplished any great feats; he had not conquered any despots or slain any dragons or done anything else worthy of note. Abraham’s election was all about God and His divine plan.

Because there was nothing Israel did to become “the elect,” there was also nothing they could do that would cause them to become the “unelect.” Election, otherwise, becomes a matter of performance. If you are good, you stay elected. If you are bad, you become unelected. This human-centric election is not what we find in Scripture. Election is a matter of God’s will–from beginning to end (159-160).

I’m very goal-oriented and performance-based, so it’s incredibly hard for me to understand this concept. I can only accept what the Bible says and believe it in faith. That’s all God really wants. And when I take up my cross daily, a part of that is crucifying the performance-driven part of myself. My pastor says that God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us way too much to leave us that way. We are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), and He’s not done with us yet, but we are already complete in His love. Nothing can increase or decrease our completeness in His love. In fact, in God’s eyes, we are already seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

This second section is centered around learning to love ourselves, because we have to love ourselves if we expect to love others as Jesus commanded us. He said we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). To love ourselves, we have to understand God loves us, and we have to learn to see ourselves the way He sees us.

If you enjoyed this material, please leave a like or comment on my blog, share, and you can purchase my book, Learning to Love: A Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, on Amazon. Until next time, God bless.

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Sara DuVall is a wife and homeschool mom. She lives in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama with her husband and four children. Originally from the Florida Gulf Coast, she was raised in the church and worked for the church for some time. Sara has a MA in English literature and certificate in technical communication, having work experience in the field of technical communication and technical editing. Her BA is in cultural anthropology and English writing. Sara has been writing poetry since she was about 13 years old. Inspired by a poem written by her great-grandmother, Sara has studied and enjoyed the art of poetry ever since. She is a published short story author in Northwest Florida State College’s Blackwater Review (2006 and 2007). She is also an award-winning short story author at the University of West Florida (2009). She published her first book, Learning to Love: a Collection of Poetry and 40 Daily Devotions, in 2021. The daughter of a choir director and college music teacher with an MA in voice, Sara was regularly exposed to music from an early age. Although she is a far cry from the vocal qualifications of her mother, and although she is not nearly as proficient a pianist as she should be from her tutelage, Sara has maintained her musical background by expressing herself through acoustic and classical guitar and the Native American style flute, composing many of her own songs. Besides writing and music, one of Sara’s favorite work experiences was as assistant curator of the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida where she got to accession people’s old stuff and guide tours about it. They just don’t make things like they used to.
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