Journey to Holy Passion 8.17.07

Confidence in Love

I. Who Is God To Me, And Who Am I To Him?

A.W. Tozer once wrote that whatever comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. What a simple yet profound statement. Our ideas and perceptions of who God is directly effect not only the way we relate to Him in our daily walk, but how we relate to others around us. It is vital that we have a correct understanding (though limited by our feeble minds) of the characteristics, attributes, and emotions of God.

Do we view God as mostly mad, sad, or frustrated with us when He relates to us? Does He just tolerate us when we mess up? Does He give us the cold shoulder when we don’t “measure up”? If the answer to these questions is yes, then we will never stand confidently in love before God, because we will approach Him with a guarded heart, never entering into true intimacy with Him.

As we walk in the reality that God likes us and even enjoys us in our weakness and immaturity, we will approach Him with confidence, boldness, and hearts overflowing with love for Him. This reality draws us into a place of intimacy in God’s heart that we will never experience if we come to Him under the threats of fear of punishment.

II. Give Me A Drink

John 4:6-14, “6 …Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ …9 Then the woman…said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ 11 The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with…13 Jesus answered and said to her, ‘…14 whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst…”

Here is a great example of Jesus lovingly and patiently wooing a sinful woman (see verses 16-19) into the heart of the Father as she tries to run and hide in her shame.

It is important to notice that this woman came to draw water at noonday. In the culture of the day, women would go to the wells to draw water early in the morning or in the evening after the sun went down. This woman came at the hottest part of the day, thinking that she would not have to encounter anyone, especially the other women from her town. What she didn’t know is that destiny was sitting at the well waiting on her.


Jesus begins by asking the woman for a drink. This is significant because of the history of animosity between Jews and Samaritans. He not only talks to her, but also asks to share a drinking vessel with her.

Here we see the heart of God in Jesus longing for passionate, voluntary love and devotion from a weak and sinful woman. Jesus said, “Give me a drink”. In other words, God is saying to you, “Fulfill this longing in Me. Satisfy this desire of my heart.”

Her response is not much different from ours when God seeks to draw us into a deeper place in His heart. She runs and tries to hide in her shame.

“…How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me…”

After Jesus reveals to the woman that he knows of her sins (verses 16-19), He gives her the invitation to be a wholehearted lover of the Father (verses 23-24). She accepts.

III. And You Are Clean

Another example of the idea that we are enjoyed even in our weakness comes at the Last Supper as recorded in John 13.

Jesus had begun to wash the disciples’ feet and, Peter refused to let Him.

John 13:10, “Jesus said to him, ‘He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but no all of you’.”

But then we see this remarkable exchange between Peter and the Lord. Jesus calls him clean! This is astounding because later in the same conversation, Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times that very night.

John 13:38, “Jesus answered him [Peter], ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’”

Jesus looks at Peter in verse 10 and tells him that he is clean and then proceeds to tell him in verse 38 that he will deny even knowing Him that night. Jesus calls Peter clean (pure, beautiful, lovely) knowing that he is weak and immature.

Jesus, later that same night, delivers this message to Peter yet again.

Matt. 26:41, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”


IV. Dark, But Lovely

One of the clearest examples of God liking us even in the process of growing in maturity is found in the book of Song of Solomon. This beautiful love song is a picture of holy romance between Jesus and the sincere believer.

This journey of the Shulamite woman (who represents the believer) begins with a spiritual crisis that I like to call the “paradox of grace”. As she runs head first into her own sin and weakness, she also discovers that she is lovely to Solomon (who represents God).

Song 1:5, “I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

It is essential for our spiritual growth to see that we are lovely even as we see more of our own sinfulness. When this revelation hits our heart we will grow in confidence and gratitude in our relationship with Jesus.

Knowledge of our weak flesh is an important aspect of the truth about who we are, although it is not the whole truth. God knows about the depth of our sin before we are saved. He does not discover our sin just because we do.

Psalm 139:1-2, “1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

Psalm 139:14, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.”

Psalm 139:17, “How precious also are Your thoughts to [toward, or about] me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

David knew this truth well. He understood the delight that God has for him.

V. How Then Shall We Live

Many have sincerely repented yet lack confidence that they are beautiful to God, not realizing that God is looking at the willing spirit on the inside. Others, however, have seen the truth of our loveliness to God and sometimes live presumptuously by claiming God’s beauty without seeking to live in sincere repentance and wholeheartedness. The issue is how to relate to God when we discover our own sinfulness. Will we run from God or to God?