“They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them.” Psalm 44:3
Have you ever wondered why God would pick a “non-people group”, the Israelites, and make them into the most highly feared, highly respected group of people in the known world? Why would He go to all the trouble of bringing them out of Egypt, providing for and sustaining them in the wilderness, bringing them across the Jordan River and then fighting for them, defeating one massive kingdom after another? And why would He not completely turn His back on them when they started in with all of their grumbling, complaining and unbelief? There would certainly have to be some amazing, very important reason for it all, and that reason was all for love!
It was all for love and love alone that The Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, would go through all of this. It was all for love that He would form a nation out of one man, Abraham. He wanted a people, His own special possession, that He could pour His love out upon. Even when they abandoned Him, if they only cried out for help and turned their hearts back toward Him, He would run to their rescue and bring deliverance every time.
It is for that same reason, love, that He did the same for you and me. John 3:16-17 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
It was and is “all for love” that the Father has given us this abundant life through Jesus! Today, let us remind ourselves to simply be the recipients of this great love.