by Scott Basham, BibleSteak Contributor

Who are we and why don't we feel God's love?

Negative Expectations

Because we have seen over the years people who have not liked us or treated us harshly, we don't expect people to like us.  And therefore, how could God like us.

The Weight of Guilt

We have made mistakes in the past.  Some are ugly, and we cannot forgive ourselves for them.  How could God forgive us for them?

We Don't Like Ourselves

We know ourselves, and we don't like what we see.  And, we know God knows us even better than we do, and He has a much higher standard.  You become convinced God could not love someone like yourself.

We Feel Like a Failure

We have not accomplished anything in life worthwhile.  We are a nobody.  No one notices me, no one sees me.  I am nothing, I am a failure.  I'm just not good at anything.  Everything I try, I can't do.  I am of no value to anyone, including God.

Loves Hurts

You may have tried to love before, and it backfired.  Love hurts too much.  People stopped loving you, so you stopped loving.  It's hard for you to be loved, it's hard for you to love.  And so, neither does God care to love you.

God's Silence

I don't feel God's presence.  I have sought God, but where is He?  He does not feel close by.  I never see Him, feel Him, talk with Him, touch Him.  Where is He?

God's Ignores Me

Most of the time I don't think about God - I forget about Him.  If I don't pay attention to God, how could He pay attention to Me?

God is a Demanding God

We read about God's holiness, and His demand for righteousness.  He has incredibly high standards.  I don't measure up.  I am not good enough, and can't be.  I can never get to the place where God can accept me.

God is So Far Above Me

God is royalty.  He is the King.  I am but a peasant.  I cannot become nobility.  I am second class, and out of the inner circle.

Life's Not Fair

God has favorites.  And it's not me.  I look around at other's who are blessed, and it's not me.  Life's not fair, and I've gotten the short end of the stick.

I am Tired

I am tired or lazy.  I just don't care.  I'm not up to making an effort.  Why would God make any effort for me if I won't for Him?

I have Failed God

God has tried before with me.  But I am weak, and I have failed God.  God is disappointed in me, and won't accept me.

Conditional Love

My parents sometimes showed me love, but mostly when they saw me doing what they wanted me to do.  As soon as I stepped outside of that narrow boundary, I no longer felt their love.  In fact, most often I did not feel it.  I rarely follow God's narrow path of full obedience, so He must rarely love me.

I can Never Make the Grade

My parents never believed in me.  They never trusted me.  They never felt I could do it.  Their love was always conditional, and I could not meet the conditions.  I never could measure up to their standards, or what they wanted in me.  I have failed them, always coming up short, never good enough.  I never felt accepted by them.  I was always wrong, or weak, or slow, or just didn't get it.  I never could do what they wanted.  They were disappointed in me - God must be, too.

Feelings are Deceptive
Our feelings can often be deceiving.  There are models who feel unattractive.  There are wealthy who feel like failures.   There are skilled craftsmen who feel like they cannot produce.  There are people loved by God who do not know it.

The story of the Prodigal Son is intended to show how God feels about us.  The Prodigal Son did not feel loved or worthy, but was fully loved and accepted by his father when he came to him.  That is all God asks - that we go to Him.

First, you need to understand that God loves you.  You may not feel it yet, but let's see what Scripture says about it.

God loves every person

John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

God loves every person enough to offer them eternal life with Him.

Romans 5:8 — But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God loves us despite our sin and failures.

1 John 4:9-10 — By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son {to be} the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:19 — We love, because He first loved us.

God loves us first.  He chose to love us before we were capable of love.  He started with love for us, and He continues to love us.

1 John 4:16 — We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

We are sinners, and yet God wants to live with us.

Titus 3:4 — But when the kindness of God our Savior and {His} love for mankind appeared,

We are sinners, and yet God's kindness is overwhelming, and with that He loves us.

2 Peter 3:9 — The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

1 Tim 2:4 — who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

This love and desire is for each and every person.

Lamentations 3:22-23 — The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
{They} are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

His love for us never fails, never slows.  It is renewed every day.

I John 1:9 — If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We may have sinned, but when we confess, they are fully forgiven.

Psalms 103:12 — As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

God throws our sins completely away.  His forgiveness is complete.

Deuteronomy 31:8 — ~"The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Hebrews 13:5 — {Make sure that} your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

God's promise - He will always love you, and always be there for you.  (Remember the "Footprints" poem, where there were only one set of footprints, and it felt like God was gone, but they were His footprints, carrying you.)

If God has these affections and forgiveness and love for us, we need to see ourselves in the same way.  We need to see that God does indeed love us, and we are okay.  During your life you may not experience much love from others, but you must not compare how others have treated you with how God feels about you.  No matter what other think, no matter what your parents told you, you are okay, and you are passionately and fully and completely loved by God.

Realize that God has been there all along, taking care of you.  See His hand in your life.  Take note of the different ways He has been there for you.  Remind yourself of His constant presence.

Remember, we are His not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done.

Ephesians 2:8-9 — For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And now, where are we with God?

Romans 8:38-39 — For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

From A. W. Tozer - "Because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea."

We are loved by God.  You are loved by God.  You are his child.  It will take time and regular reminders to fully absorb this truth.  Be patient, and return to these verses often.  When you read them, understand that God is speaking them directly to you.  They are God's voice to you, telling you He loves you