We hear about God’s love a great deal in Christian circles. We sing about this love in almost every worship song, pray about His love, and offer affirmations of His love to others. But in our darkest moments, when we’ve entered the deepest pits of despair, we can often wonder about God’s love. The following verses will highlight the characteristics of God’s love to provide encouragement for you no matter what season you’ve entered.
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Before we dive into the verses, we do have to understand love in the Bible does take on a different meaning than love in our culture. We may say in the same breath, “I love potlucks, and I love you.”
In the Greek language, there are many different words for love, but only one kind of love can God show: agape.
Described in 1 Corinthians 13, this kind of love is unconditional. We can hear the phrase, “God is love.” It goes beyond a romantic, brotherly, and familial love, this kind of love has no conditions, no limit, and no expiration.
Knowing the kind of love God is and has for us, we can go into the next few verses, assured He will exercise the very same agape on us.
In a world where sinful humans can let us down or circumstances we’d hoped for don’t pan out, we can know God’s love never fails when everything else does. The following verses describe this unfailing nature of agape.
1 Corinthians 13:8 states outright, “love never fails.” These verses in 1 Corinthians 13 describe all the characteristics of God through the theme of love: patient, kind, not boasting, etc. In God’s very nature, he cannot fail us.
Psalm 109:26 says God saves us with his unfailing love. When we’ve entered the hardest times of life, God’s love will carry us through. He doesn’t give up on us during the most difficult moments. He walks alongside us through the hurt and pain.
In addition to God’s inability to fail us, his love has no conditions. If we fail him one day and fall into sin, he won’t say, “Well, you sinned again, so I can’t love you.” His love knows no bounds.
1 Peter 4:8 says love covers a multitude of sins. It doesn’t matter how badly we’ve messed up or stumbled into the same patterns of our lives before we knew Christ. Like the father of the prodigal son, he comes running to us when we return to him. His love covers any wrong we’ve done.
Jeremiah 31:3 describes God’s love as an everlasting love. His unfailing kindness doesn’t know any temporal limits. He doesn’t decide to cut off his love in 2019, and anyone who sins in 2020 and beyond cannot receive his love. His love goes on forever because He is love.
John 3:16 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible. It talks about how God, loving everyone in the world, gave up His one and only son for us. He withholds nothing from us, being willing to give up even His life so that we may reunite with Him.
When facing seasons of doubt or despair, believers can often turn to the Psalms for words of comfort. Because the psalmists poured out their hearts to God, many times reminiscing about how God has never failed them in the past, readers can approach these texts knowing they have an authentic but hopeful tone.
Psalm 63:3 talks about how God’s unfailing love is better than life itself. We have something innate inside us that yearns for God’s love. It gives us life and purpose. He fills us up when we’re empty.
Psalm 94:18-19 shows us that when our feet slip, God’s love catches us. He’s our rock, foundation, and His love supports us when we fall. Whether we mess up or life knocks us down, God’s love cradles us and helps us to rise again.
Love requires trust. This Bible often links the two together.
Psalm 13:5 encourages us to trust in God’s unfailing love. Because we cannot see God or often see the behind-the-scenes work he does, we can venture into doubt. But when we are unsure, we can trust He will come through now as He has done for us in the past.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us that one of the characteristics of this agape love is it trusts. Love cannot be love without trust.
Nothing can warm our hearts more than the image of the prodigal son’s father running down the road to meet him and embracing him. God’s love wrapping around us can comfort us during a trying day, week, or year.
Isaiah 41:10 says that when we go through a scary or difficult predicament, God promises to be with us and to uphold us with His righteous hand. When we feel weak, He strengthens us.
Psalm 147:3 says that God represents our place of refuge. We can find peace “underneath (his) everlasting arms).
God’s love will never fail us. No matter whether we face a bountiful time of life or one full of trials and tribulations, His love will comfort, strengthen, and carry us now and forever.
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Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a recent graduate of Taylor University's professional writing program. More than 400 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer's Digest to Keys for Kids. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her column "Hope's Hacks," tips and tricks to avoid writer's block, reaches 6,000+ readers weekly and is featured monthly on Cyle Young's blog. Her modern-day Daniel, “Blaze,” (Illuminate YA) just released, and they contracted the sequel “Den” for July 2020. Find out more about her here.