The Importance of Letting God Love You

After years and years of ministry, John and Paula Sandford made a startling discovery.

For about a year, God had been giving them two inexplicable passages of Scripture:

I am like a desert owl,
    like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake; I have become
    like a bird alone on a roof. (Ps. 102:6–7 NIV)

Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? (Mark 8:18 NKJV)

They had no idea what those verses meant for them. Was somebody lonely and rejected? Did someone need prayer? They interceded for everyone they knew who was going through persecution or rejection, but they could sense they weren’t necessarily on the right track. God kept bringing those verses back to them, and it got to be embarrassing—because they just couldn’t understand what He was saying! 

Then one day their son Loren preached a sermon about letting the Lord love you, and a light bulb went off for John and Paula.

They realized they were pouring themselves out for God, and they loved Him dearly—but they had never considered the possibility that He wanted to enjoy loving them in return. Until that moment, they hadn’t understood how much the Lord craved opportunities to pour out His love on them and enjoy Himself in His love.

John and Paula suddenly understood why God kept giving them those two Scripture passages. The Lord felt like that desert owl and the bird all alone on the roof. Without meaning to, they had not been allowing Him to come close and just enjoy loving them, and they had wounded His heart.

He Longs to Show You His Love

Basking in our Father’s love for us is not a matter of trying to conquer our own issues and mental walls in order to experience His affection. It is actually the other way around. It is the discipline of letting Him “find” us.

We may or may not be able to feel His presence all the time. It would be marvelous if we could, but that is actually not the most important thing. The most important thing is deciding to believe He is right here loving us—and then, second, waiting long enough with Him to give the Holy Spirit time to fill our whole being with who He is. That is key.

Like John and Paula, so many believers in Jesus happily dedicate themselves to knowing His truth and serving Him faithfully, and they do so for the best of reasons. But somehow in the process, they can miss a vital part of His heart. They don’t take the time to allow His heart to do the very special thing it longs to do: simply love them and have them bask in His love. 

This God of ours is One who longs:

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him. (Isa. 30:18 NASB)

God’s Love Means Our Freedom

God doesn’t love us from afar. He is not merely delighted about us, that we exist, but He is actually delighted in us.

You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,
Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate;
But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah;
For the Lord delights in you,
And your land shall be married. (Isa. 62:4 NKJV)

When we let God love us, our spirit connects with His and is filled up with His nature. In that position of being filled up with Him, we are much more able to recognize when something doesn’t match who He is. 

It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been following Jesus or how mature we are or how brilliant our knowledge of the Word is—when we do not allow God to infuse us with His loving presence, when we do not abide in Him this way, our “old man” will start acting up again. We will find ourselves dealing with the same garbage we have been fighting for years. Our decision to let the Lord love us means freedom from the flesh.

Rejoicing Like a Child in His Love

What does basking in the love of the Lord look like for you? 

What can you do this week to become more aware of the longing of God in your life—that He is choosing you again and again, that He is actively and constantly seeking you, that He deeply desires to show you His love for you? Like a child, rejoice in His wonderful love.

The Lord of all life longs to be allowed to cherish you. Give Him this gift of cherishing you and expressing His love to you. This will absolutely delight Him.

Much of this article is based on chapter 12 of Life Transformed by the Sandfords. Go to our website and check it out! Click here.