Some questions I am often asked by nonbelievers:

• How can a loving God allow us to suffer and then burn in an eternal hell if we don’t surrender to Him?
• How can a loving God allow the devil to trick Eve into eating the fruit in the first place?
• How can a loving God allow the sins and pain last for so long?

I’m sure these are all questions we’ve all thought of at some point and they are reasonable things to wonder. We can’t know everything, but there are some things we have to accept as unanswered.

But there are some answers to those questions. In many cases, pain is caused in consequence of our own actions. Even if we don’t want to face the things we have done to ourselves, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. Pain also is allowed to happen because He loves us. He wants us to learn how to be strong and gain patience during turmoil. Even in the most dire situations, He is with us; He never leaves us while we’re suffering. This shows His love for us in that He will endure all pain with us. Just as He bore a cross on that Calvary Hill, our cross is to endure with the hope and patience He graces us with.

He, being omnipotent, knows everything, so He is aware of all people, all things, and all circumstances simultaneously. He knows even when our suffering and struggle can benefit others. Sometimes, when other people see how we handle our pain, they can be strengthened and encouraged. That’s why it is best to leave every circumstance in His hands. He loves us and wants to make right every wrong, so He will do that in the best way, in His perfect timing. His word expresses how much our God loves us. Even with all the other factors that the world throws at us, He still loves us. The devil just likes to try to turn us against Him and force us to believe He doesn’t love us.

Depending on the translation of the Bible you’re reading, love is brought up a multitude of times NKJV: 361; NIV: 551; KJV: 310. Because God is love, and His word is so involved with it, I believe it is one of the most important topics I could study.

Titus 3:4-6

“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured our on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

• When the Word (Logos, Wisdom, Truth) came to live on earth as Jesus, He came to not only redeem us, fulfill the law, and perform miracles, but He also came to spread the love of God.
• Because of His love for us, He is kind and merciful toward us.
• Because of His mercy, He has allowed His Holy Spirit, which has been renewed in us, to be poured our across those who love Jesus.
• Jesus tells us if we love Him, we will follow His commandments. Well, Matthew 22:37-40 explains what He calls His greatest commandments. “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”
• Even His greatest commandment is centralized around love.

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• Paul wrote this to encourage and remind us of our God’s everlasting love: His love is steadfast, no matter what we say or do, or what the world says or does.
• What Jesus did on the cross was a display of God’s love. He died: God died, to save us from the consequences of our sin — even while we were still sinners.

The sacrifice that God made was the ultimate source of love. Many people don’t/won’t accept when they are told the consequences of their actions, so they won’t accept the remedy: There are also many who simply refuse Jesus because they think salvation is too much work on their part. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation — Jesus did the work for us because He was the only one worthy. Salvation is about recognizing that fact. Salvation is recognizing that He is the only one capable of saving us — that humility is the only way. We were enslaved to pride, but Jesus, through His act of love saved us…Even when we didn’t want to be saved.

1 John 3:16-17

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

• Jesus tells us that one of the biggest ways to show our love is by sacrificing your life for someone. Our lives are the most valuable thing we have and our willingness to give that up displays how much we love them.
• Jesus sacrificed His life for every person, displaying His (God’s) steadfast love.
• Human’s are willy nilly about their emotions, but Jesus isn’t just some ordinary human. He is God Almighty incarnated into a human body.

Love isn’t just a feeling — though it can be felt, love is an action and a choice. God chooses to love us regardless of our sins. We are told to love the person we choose to marry, not just to marry the person we love. Love should be seen as a verb, not just as the adjective and noun that the world likes to portray it as. God tells us this in the way Jesus willingly went to the cross to suffer in our place.

2 Thessalonians 3:5

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”

• God is the one who allows us to be guided by His love. Without His allowance, we would be blinded by our pride still. He is the one who calls the shots and decides when to allow or not allow things to happen.
• He knows our hearts and minds intimately and is aware if His seeds of love, patience, and peace will fall upon hardened soil.

Romans 5:5

“Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured our in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

• After Jesus’ resurrection, He taught the disciples for a while longer then returned to Heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to teach others about Jesus’ message. He teaches us and shows us God’s love, which we are also able to spread to those who don’t know Him yet.
• Love is what gives us hope, makes us faithful, brings us joy, and lets us live in the light.
• Hope does not fail because it is fueled by the love and Spirit of God that now lives in us.

1 John 4:9-12

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”

• Through Jesus’ sacrifice, and His blood covering our sin, we now live through Him. His Holy Spirit lives inside us so we no longer live under the veil of death but in the light of life and love.
• God Himself, the Creator, the Father, Son, and Spirit, will abide in us through Jesus bestowed within us through the breaking of His body and shedding of His blood, and the Holy Spirit reviving our souls; He now dwells with and in us.
• He loves us so much that He wants to dwell with us!

God is holy, pure love, humility, righteousness, and eternal grace. Because of His holiness He can’t dwell among sin, but His grace and the cleansing of His Holy Spirit make it possible for us to dwell with Him. He truly loves us that much! He made a way when there was no way! Praise Him for His love and holiness!

Ephesians 3:17-19

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”

• The love of God is beyond anything we can possible comprehend in our current carnal state.
• Because Jesus lives within us, we are able to understand our depravity without Him, His grace, and that His love is great.
• To be filled with the loving presence of God, there needs to be a humbling of your pride, a dying to your fleshly, carnal desires and an emptying of yourself. He doesn’t want the deception of our hearts to get in the way of His work in us. This should be our aim: to grow closer to Him in faith and love.
• Our foundation increases in strength as we grow closer to Him in our faith.

Nehemiah 9:17

“They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,”

• Yahweh created the world and everything in it: including humanity. He loved humans and kept giving opportunities to resist temptation from evil, He still allowed free will to remain and with that free will, humanity has used it to commit a multitude of atrocities. And yet the Lord has never abandoned us.
• Even after He performed many miracles, people still turn their backs on God Almighty. Yet through Jesus His arms remain open for the prodigals to return home.

He knows our lives more intimately than we can imagine, crafting every cell while we were still in the womb. He knows our life stories before we live it and ultimately is aware of our fates. Yet He still wants to welcome everyone. Everyone has the call in their heart, because He has signed His name in our very DNA, but few choose to obey the call. No matter what sin we have committed, what pain we have endured, or what any other human claims, He is there to forgive and welcome us gladly. He is our ever merciful, loving, Heavenly Father.

Isaiah 43:1-3

“But now, this is what the Lord says — He who created you, Jacob, He who formed Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord You God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.”

• Because God made a way to redeem us for our sins, He will protect us so that we make it to the point of forgiveness and can fulfill His will for our lives after.
• There are no limits to His protection, because He loves us, He will help us to get through any struggle — and the first one was our sin.
• He tells us that the places and things that kept us in bondage for so long will be given to us to rule over. We have authority over our Egypt!

Thanks for reading this Bible study! I hope it was educational and enjoyable for you readers! It is my prayer that I may help to teach and inspire others to share word of the Lord. He tells us to preach the gospel to all the world, and this is the best way I know how! Keep Israel in your prayers and the lost in your hearts as you go about your day. If you have any testimonies, prayer, or study requests, please DM me or email me at the links provided!