In 1907 Albert Einstein said that the happiest thought he ever had was the that a person falling experiences no gravity. This thought led him to come up with the theory of General Relativity and that space and time are interconnect in the fabric of spacetime. And that this fabric is bent by mass and movement along the curvature of curved space time is what we experience as gravity. Einstein’s realization was later proved in 1979 with the discovery of a twin Quasar system that shows gravitational lensing, and later further proved with the discovery of the predicted gravitational waves found in 2015. Our understanding of gravity, physics, electromagnetic interaction, time, and near-luminal velocities all hangs on that idea. In short most every part of modern physics works because of General Relativity. Quite a lot for a little thought.
One little thought changed Einstein’s life and by extension the whole world. Changing the whole world is a lofty goal, but that first part of changing one’s life, that is something for which we can strive. One thought that changes your life, but what should that thought be? I guess that would depend on what your life is marked by. For Our friend Albert here, he was a Physicist and so it stands to reason that his thought was on physics. For Columbus that thought appears to be that the world was not flat, a pretty good one for a sailor. Alexander Fleming the thought that bacteria could be killed, and people could be made to live longer was a very happy thought for the doctor who discovered penicillin. Happy thoughts that changed the lives of the thinker.
But could there be a universal happy thought that would change the life of everyone that heard and understood it? That’s the question that has been on my mind these past few days. And frankly I don’t really have an answer for that universal happy thought, but I did find one happy thought for myself.
“A fallen man experiences no lack of God’s Love”
I have no delusions of my blog changing the whole world, but it has definitely changed my life. Now let’s do a bit of clarification on what I mean. I picked the wording I did to mimic the wording of Einstein’s thought so its not as clear as it could have been. There is nothing you can do to earn God’s love and there is nothing you can do to lose it either. Love is not the same as blessing, if you actively rebel against Him, He won’t be able to bless you as He is bound by His own word. But in the heart of the parent is no less love for the rebellious child. Love is not the same as worthy, if you refuse to repent you cannot enter His presence, but the love in the heart of the parent is no less for the absent child.
This is a thought I have been thinking on for some time now. I was thinking on this topic when I read Hosea just the other day. Not sure if you have read that book recently but Hosea is a preforming arts Prophet, kinda like Ezekiel. What I mean by that his he is commanded to live his life in a peculiar way that expresses a message God wants to get across.
In Hosea’s case he is commanded to marry a prostitute and then name the children his wife had by other men in a specific way. Hosea is instructed to name the first child Jezreel because God will punish the dynasty of Jehu in the valley of Jezreel. The second kid he is to name “no pity” because the Lord will no longer have pity of Israel. The third Kid is to be named “Not My People” because Israel has shown they are not the Lord’s people.
Kind of a bleak start to an example of God’s love persevering but stay with me and I will show you how it does. It begins to show towards the end of chapter 2 The Lord speaking though Hosea and about Israel but through the story of the prostitute wife says that after a time He will lead her (Israel) back into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. He will turn the Valley of Trouble into an Opportunity of Hope.
Then the Lord says in that day He will plant in all of the land and Jezreel meaning God Plants will no longer be a curse. In that day He will have pity on “No Pity” and will say to “Not My People” You are My people, and he will say you are my God.
Then the most interesting part happens. Hosea’s Wife is arrested and due to be sold into slavery for her crimes and debts. And the Lord says to Hosea in chapter 3 “Go, Show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery.” The Lord says “Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to Idols.” Hosea then goes and purchases her back.
Now that is something else. At this point in scripture Israel has split from Judah and is all sorts of wicked. They have fallen in every way, and in the midst of that the Lord uses a story of a good man who loves and unfaithful wife and buys her back from slavery to express His feelings for His own fallen people. He loves Israel regardless of their fallen state. He does not stop the punishment they have caused anymore than a parent punishes a child who has misbehaved, but His love for them is not diminished.
This made me ask my self if there were other scriptures that supported this idea. Jeremiah 31: 1-4 2 The Lord says: The people of Israel who survived death at the hands of the enemy will find favor in the wilderness as they journey to find rest for themselves. In a faraway land the Lord will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you. I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, so that you will once again be built up. Once again you will take up the tambourine and join in the happy throng of dancers.
Deuteronomy 7:8 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you—for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of His [The Lord’s] love for you and His faithfulness to the promise He solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Duet 10:15
1 Nephi 11:22
2 Nephi 1:15
Malachi 1:2-5
And numerous others
At this point my search brough me to the New Testament. And in that I found the Big One.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life.
25 words that sum the point up.
God loved the world. Which world, this one? The one that has always hated Him? This world that would be willing to kill His Son? The world that had to be flooded due to evilness? The world that is fallen?
And yet He loved it so much that He gave Jesus to us to save us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?” Romans 5:11
We are fallen. We are on a ship that is sinking with no way off and the Father looked at us and felt love we did not deserve and set Jesus with lifeboats. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” John 15:16 God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. His love for us is the Same. Today. Yesterday. And forever. We cannot make Him not love us because He has already at our worst point shown His love for us. A man can shut his eyes and not see the sun, but the sun does not go out. In the same way we can turn, run, and hide from God’s love, but it does not turn off because we do so.
But I don’t always feel his omnipresent love? I can’t tell you why you aren’t feeling it, why your eyes are shut to continue with the last analogy but just like the blind person can still feel the warmth of the sun if you can’t see his love look for the other signs and you’ll find it, ever-present.
When you have fallen further, when you have stumbled, we you continue to fall short of the glory of God you are still loved.
There is power in knowing this. You never have to earn His love. Never have to wonder if you are enough for Him. You were at your worst, and you are at your best. “If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.” Psalm 139:8
So go ahead and live like you’re loved
It’s okay to act like you’ve been set free
His love has made you more than enough
So go ahead and be who he made you to be
If you could grasp that happy little though it would change your world in the same way Einstein changed physics.
Read Psalm 136
KJV – For His mercy endureth forever
NET – For His loyal love endures
NLT – For His loving-kindness lasts forever
NASB – For His faithfulness is everlasting
ESV – For His steadfast love endures forever
“A fallen man experiences no lack of God’s Love”
Im praying for thee, please pray for me.
Didn’t suck.