Touchstones of God's Love For Us
I’ve set out this month to identify evidence of a compassionate, limitless and selflessly loving Heavenly Father. The purpose of this rhetorical exercise is to expand my own sense of love and gratitude for the historical, even monumental, events that have accumulated to form the undeniable truth of God’s unfathomable love for His children, which includes you and me. Let us thereby focus our earnest prayers of thankfulness on this fact as we consider seven chronological realities for which we can be eternally grateful.
Without God’s commanding intervention in each example, we, the human species of His remarkable creation, may never have “set foot” upon this planet. While the following featured highlights in and of themselves are not held out as theological tenets, may they encourage you in your prayer life, particularly as you focus your love and affection on our Heavenly Father – the Architect of all things great and small.
The history of humankind, as revealed by God’s own indelible fingerprints, illustrates the predominance of His love and mercy – strung out through time like summer lanterns on a back porch. To powerfully highlight the pinnacles of God’s storybook of creation and His relationship with humankind, we can look up towards the stars where hints of God’s vast universe are remarkably displayed.
Looking back over the past year, 2020 was clearly a daunting one for many. As we consider the global challenges on every stratum of today’s world, is it even conceivable for us to “connect the dots” of a prayer map…one crediting our benevolent Lord with His historical and compassionate acts of love, beginning with creation itself?
Consider the following seven “touchstones”1 as pivotal, watershed events in the history of time and humankind, through which we’re reminded of the need to acknowledge God’s enduring love with thankfulness throughout 2021.
CREATION
With a heart full of gratitude, I acknowledge and praise God for His wonderful power and purpose in and through all of His creation. This mastery includes the Garden of Eden, where He often walked in close fellowship with Adam and Eve. It was there too where He had confronted them of their sin, and the peril of their separation from Him and His perfect garden. For me personally, the most compelling aspect of the creation story is the image of “the Lord God” (presumably Jesus) coming to the garden as He often did to visit with His beloved friends. On the day that Adam and Eve sinned, however, He no longer visited them as their Friend, but as the promised Saviour. His provision for their eternal lives had been prepared for them (as per Christ’s prophetic sacrifice) long before that horrific day when sin threatened to permanently mar His most beloved of creation.2
AVOIDING EXTINCTION
Although deserving of complete destruction, through Noah’s faithful obedience to God, the remnant of humankind was miraculously spared from extinction during the great flood. I often think of Noah’s difficult predicament when his other family members, friends and neighbours refused to heed God’s warning seriously. By the time they realized the seriousness of the situation, and the flooding waters began to rise perilously, the huge locked door of the impenetrable ark sealed their fate.3
THE BIRTH OF A NATION
Just as the rainbow was provided by God as a portrait of His promise to Noah and compassion for humankind,4 likewise, the stars, dust and sand recall for us His promise to accomplish the impossible through Abraham. God fulfilled His covenant with Abraham by making the Old Testament patriarch’s descendants as countless as the dust of the earth, the stars in the sky, and the grains of sand along the seashore.5
THE CHOSEN PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
As a display of His infinite love and blessings throughout time, God faithfully remembered His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As a result, He ensured the deliverance of His enslaved people from oppression in the land of ancient Egypt.6
THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOUR
In accordance with the New Testament (also referred to as the “New Covenant”), God offers all of humankind the Greatest Gift of all – His only begotten Son – through whom we can receive His provision of eternal life, as historically promised through David’s lineage: “His name shall be called JESUS.”7
THE FULFILLMENT OF JESUS’ EARTHLY MINISTRY
When teaching about His Second Coming, a time when He would assuredly return in new bodily form, Jesus grounded the prophetic truth of His forthcoming ascension, thereby preparing the way for the events of His crucifixion to unfold. The most poignant anecdote of Christ’s final hours was set in the Garden of Gethsemane. Upon entering the garden, Jesus asked His disciples to break off in small numbers so they could wait and pray under the olive trees while He went on alone to intensely intercede before His Father. In deep travail, He sought God’s grace to bear the suffering that lay ahead of Him and prayed that the disciples would not “fall into temptation.”8
THE GLORIOUS HOPE OF RESURRECTION!9
The culmination of all these “touchstones,” which epitomize God’s tremendous love for us, was the resurrection of Jesus Christ whose sacrificed body had been buried in the tomb but raised to life again.10
I would imagine that during the ancient days, these significant “touchstones” were used to mark the historical time and place of each momentous occasion, so they can serve as ongoing reminders of the many good gifts and spiritual provisions God has providentially bestowed for the benefit of us all. Through my study of thankfulness, especially amid the darkness of today’s challenges, it occurred to me that we could have forgotten God’s goodness had it not been for these unmistakable signposts and celestial markers.
Only in identifying the highlights of God’s overcoming love, despite viral and other disheartening anomalies (such as modern-day persecution) can we be truly thankful. May the touchstones outlined in this commentary motivate us to continue honouring Him through our prayers of thanksgiving, even in the midst of these challenging times. Let us remember the beauty and consistency of His creation and unfailing love for us all, as each of the foregoing milestones wondrously reveal.
- Doug
Endnotes: 1 https://wordatwork.org.uk/luke/jesus-touchstone 2 Genesis 1-5 3 Genesis 6-9 4 Genesis 9:12-17 5 Genesis 13:16; 15:5; 22:17 6 Exodus 2:24 7 Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:1-21 8 Luke 22:39-46, 9 John 19:30, 10 Luke 24
