Sun 5 May

If, after the service the person sitting beside you asks, “How do I know God loves me?” What would be your response? It is a question God’s people were asking of the prophet Malachi. Now the prophet explains that God has loved you. Yet the people still ask, “How have you loved us?”

What would prompt God’s people to doubt God’s love for them? Consider their circumstances. They have been in exile in a foreign land and are only starting to return. They have lost loved ones in the exile. They have no king to rule over them. They were discouraged and disheartened.

What of ourselves? What prompts us to doubt that God loves us? Are our circumstances telling us that God can’t possibly love a sinner like you? How does God encourage His people?

God takes His people to a very challenging teaching in the Scriptures. He takes them to an historical event – the birth of twins, Jacob and Esau. You might ask what difference would the birth of two babies make? It is what is said of these babies that displays God’s love for His people. “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” God says “Look at your history! Have not I said that I love you?”

Has not God said to us, “Look I loved you so much that I sent my only begotten Son, Jesus, into this world, that any who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” Are you doubting God’s love for you? The Bible tells us that He loves us.