Episode #140 Even When You Sin – God’s Love for You is Steadfast

Hey friend. Have you ever felt unsure of God's love when you sin? Like somehow, you've crossed the line with how many sins you're allowed, or the sin was too severe or too repetitive and now somehow God loves you less?

If you've ever had that thought cross your mind first, it's not true. And second, you're not alone. I used to struggle with this all the time.

I really didn't understand God's love for me. And to be honest, I don't know that I'll ever fully understand God's love for me, but I had believed some incorrect things about God's love. And one of those was that somehow my actions, good or bad, could change whether or not God still loved me. I thought I needed to earn his love or earn his approval.

The reality is none of that is true. Now, by our choices, we can align ourselves with God's truth or reject it. By our choices we can receive the love that God makes available to us or deny the gift.

But his love for us is always steadfast.

And so today we're looking at that reality in light of our sin. And that's not always a fun thing to talk about, but it's so necessary because even when we sin, God's love remains steadfast and loyal and faithful to us, and we can turn and respond to Him because of it.

To explore this reality of God's steadfast love. We're going to look at the story of Jonah.

So in short, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh because he is calling them to repent because the sins of the city are so great. Instead, Jonah goes the opposite direction. He gets on a boat that's heading for Tarshish. But God causes a storm to come upon the sea and the boat. And so Jonah tells everyone else, Hey, I'm running away from God. This storm is my fault. So they throw him off of the boat and he gets swallowed by a big fish. And during his time in the belly of the fish, Jonah repents. He prays to the Lord in his distress and God causes the fish to vomit Jonah out on dry land, which I just think is awesome.

So after his three days in the belly of the fish, he's vomited out on dry land, and he does what God has told him to do. Jonah goes to Nineveh, which is this vast city that is very sinful. They have turned away from God. And Jonah gives them the message from the Lord. And picking it up in Jonah 3:4, it says,

“he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’” (Jonah 3:4b)

And then this is what happens.

In verse five, it says,

“And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” (Jonah 3:5)

And so the word reaches the king, and he also covers himself with sackcloth and ashes and puts out a proclamation. That everyone needs to call out mightily to God because (in verse nine),

“‘Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.’” (Jonah 3:9)

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10)

Now we might think that's an ideal circumstance. God gives you a message telling the people to turn from their wicked ways. They turn and God relents, He doesn't bring disaster on them. Victory. Success. Praise the Lord.

But Jonah responds poorly here.

Jonah throws a hissy fit.

And God kind of calls him on it. In Jonah 4:1, it said,

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’” (Jonah 4:1-3)

And the Lord says, Hey, are you doing well to be angry?

And he causes a plant to grow that shades Jonah. And then he causes the plant to die. And Jonah is angry about the plant. And God says to him, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? (Jonah 4:9). And Jonah says,

“’Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “’You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?’” (Jonah 4:9b-11)

So there are two examples of God responding in steadfast love toward people in sin.

One is the whole city of Nineveh, but even though they were in sin, God sent them a message to cause them to repent, to cause them to change their mind. I would say, because of God's steadfast love, he sent this message. And then out of his steadfast love, again, he responded to them when they repented.

And then we also see Jonah, who throws a fit, who doesn't obey and then obeys, and even in seeing God's steadfast love and knowing of God's steadfast love, he still responds poorly and with anger when God offers steadfast love to the people.

What I hope this highlights for you is that God's love is steadfast, no matter what, even in sin.

And what can happen sometimes when we question this love or we're unsure if God's love will truly be steadfast to us, is we withdraw. We don't respond. When in reality, it's because of God's steadfast love that we can respond. That we can think again and choose a different course and receive the steadfast love that he offers us.

And so our conversation with God today is around this area. No matter where you're starting from, I'm going to give you a conversational question to ask Him, and then I encourage you, continue that conversation with God wherever He leads you. And so here's that question:

God, because of your steadfast love, what's an area of sin in my life that you want to talk with me about? I want to bring that to you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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