Accepting God’s Love
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. ––Psalm 116:1-2
For David, intimacy with the Father was a two-way street. I think that‘s why there are 139 psalms and songs in the Book of Psalms, 73 of which David himself wrote. A lot of the language is David conversing with the Lord. For example, in Psalm 10:1 he asks, “Why do you hide in times of trouble?” Or in Psalm 6:3: “My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?”
I imagine David in the fields as a teenager tending the sheep. His dad, Jesse, thought so little of David that he didn’t even insert him into the line-up when Samuel came in search of the new king. Perhaps David’s relationship with his heavenly Father was so deep because the one he had with his earthly dad was so shallow. I know some of you can relate to that, and you long for a deeper relationship with the Father.
Not only did David love the Father, he grasped the fact that the Father loved Him. For many of us, this is really tough ground because we’ve had zero models of this in real life. How can we grasp a concept if we’ve never seen it in practice? Or never had a dad who expressed love in either word or deed? Some ideas:
- Ask God to bring a spiritual father/mentor into your life.
- Invite the Holy Spirit to deal with those things in your life that leave the father wound unhealed.
- Read scriptures that talk about the Father’s love for His children. Journal some of them and meditate on them.
In the Psalms David’s tough questions reveal a unique level of trust: We typically don’t pour our hearts out to strangers; we don’t fully open up to just anyone. In Psalm 6 above, David’s tough questions are answered when he says, “Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer” (Psalm 6:8-9).
That’s real, raw, two-way relationship.
Lord, help me invite, accept, and experience Your love for me.