How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me, Psalm 139:17-18.

How does God feel about you? I think it is a question worth asking. When I started writing poetry that ended up in the book I Thought I Knew What Love Was, I had only a glimmer of God’s love. I knew Jesus died for my sins and felt I had some understanding of His love. I was only tapping the surface of God’s great love for us. The book spans 7 years of my walk with God, and even in the last year the revelation of God’s love has grown. God’s love simply cannot be fully measured or adequately explained. It is vast beyond measure. We simply attempt to explain something so wonderful; we rarely do it justice in our verbal expressions.

King David tells us in the verses above (Psalm 139:17-18) that God’s thoughts towards us outnumber the grains of sand. How many grains of sand do you think there are in the world? The University of Hawaii gives us a theoretical number, for to count them all would be impossible.

According to the University of Hawaii’s answer:

There are seven quintillion five quadrillion grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. That’s a 75 with 17 zeros following! God has more than 7,500,000,000,000,000,000 good thoughts about you.

You can say, “I am not good. I make mistakes. I am not perfect. How can God have so many good thoughts about me?” God created you. You were His idea.

God knows everything about us and not only sees who we are, but who He created us to be. I think of King David who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. God called David a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). Abraham lied quite a bit. He continued to tell people his wife was his sister. God called Abraham a man of great faith and His friend.

God sees us with the eyes of love. He’s not blind to our imperfections. He  loves us despite them and works in us to transform us. His love isn’t based on our behavior, or maturity, or merit. It’s who He is. God is love. God sees the best in us because we are His children.

Example from real life.

I used to volunteer with children’s ministry. I normally ended up in the infant or 2-4 year old room. There were many times the kids would not listen, try to fight each other, behave in ways that were not kind to each other. I did not think, “They are awful little monsters.” Nor did I yell at them, “You are so selfish. Get it together.” They are kids. I know that they have to learn to get along. They are not bad, they are acting out of what they know and what is best for them. God knows that we are children. When we come to Him, we do not behave like Him. He is patient, kind, loving, and filled with grace. He knows we need Him. He sees someone He loves. Someone He paid a high price for.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children, Psalm 103:13-17

So, my friends, you are deeply loved. God loves you. He has great plans for your life (Jer 29:11). You are valuable to Him.

For studies on our identity in Christ please join my Bible study blog, http://morena242.wordpress.com. Blessings and love,~Erin.