Written June 26, 2008

Each one of us longs to be loved. We each long to know that someone treasures us and thinks we’re special. I am no exception. :) Therefore, I decided to go on a “quest for love”–God’s love, that is. I’ll be examining different verses about God’s love, and you’re invited to join me! Ready or not, here we go!

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Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Wow! What a neat verse! Notice the verb tense the Lord uses in this verse. He says, ” I have loved,” and “I have drawn.” He doesn’t say, ” I will love,” or “I will draw.” No! He says, “I have loved, and I’m going to keep on loving”(implied by “with an everlasting love”). YAY!! How neat and special is that!? Then notice that because He loves us so much, He has drawn us to Himself. His love calls us to come close to Him! Simply amazing, isn’t it? :)

Wow! That verse already says a lot, and we haven’t even looked up a few of the key words! I got curious and decided to looked up the words “have loved” and “lovingkindness.”

The Hebrew word for “have loved” is “Ahav.” It means “to love, desire, be fond of, covet. It implies an ardent and vehement inclination of the mind and a tenderness of affection at the same time.” Wow! Just plug one of those words into verse and then read it again!

The Hebrew word for “lovingkindness” is “Chesed.” Other definitions of it are “love, benevolence, kindness, grace, mercy, loyalty, unfailing love, beauty.” Whew! Talk about an awesome verse! This one was amazing before, but plug in some of those substitute words, and the verse really comes alive!

Now, back to our verse. Let’s plug in some of those substitute words and read the verse again, okay? “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have desired and coveted you since before time began; therefore, with unfailing love, mercy, grace, and beauty, I have drawn you to myself.”