Learning to Be LovedSample

Learning Love When We Don’t Feel It

If God loves us, why do we suffer?

For so many of us, the main obstacle to learning God’s love is all the suffering, wounds, and hate we see, feel, and experience in the world.

Sickness, injustice, and pain make us feel unloved and alone. Emotional wounds left by wicked deeds leave us feeling too broken to ever truly be whole again. Corruption and depravity in our families, churches, and hearts can make us question whether a God of love even exists.

Ignoring or excusing these realities is not the solution. God’s love is not learned or experienced by avoiding pain or acting like our wounds don’t exist.

Only by entering into our past pain and current suffering will we learn how massive, resilient, and surpassingly good God’s love truly is.

We can’t unpack all of these extremely sensitive and important issues in a short reading plan, though we attempt to in our Learning to Be Loved book. For now, let’s explore one of the most beautiful Biblical passages about how God’s love is experienced in suffering.

In the passage you are about to read, we see two truths that we cannot live without.

First, it was through suffering, violence, and pain that we were shown the greatest love our world has ever known. Jesus died for us on the cross to show us his love and bring us into a loving relationship with Himself. The cross shows us a love stronger than suffering and wounds. Jesus shows us a love so deep that enters into pain and death.

Second, God works through suffering to pour his love deeper and deeper into our hearts. Suffering can strip everything away from us, rob us of our deepest dreams, and steal what we hold most dear. What’s left after the pain and evil of our world have their way? Nothing but the hope we have in Jesus. Nothing but a love that entered pain could bring us through pain.

These short answers will never be enough to speak into the long-suffering so many have endured. But the words of Scripture and the love of Jesus can.

I invite you to meditate on this important passage today. See in it the love Jesus has for you and his willingness to suffer and die for you. Also, discover how God redeems suffering as a means of pouring more of his love into your heart.

Thank you for going on this short journey into learning God’s love with us. We invite you to continue your journey by readingLearning to Be Loved.There are so many glorious ways God wants to show you his love. In the book, we explore twenty of them.

For now, as you read these verses from Romans, consider how God loves you even through suffering.