1 John 4:11-17; Psalm 22:1-5

1 John 4:11-17
v. 10 assured us that God "loved us, and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."
v. 11 goes on, "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other." No one can see God, but He (in the form of the Holy Spirit, v. 13) lives within us, and we can show Him to the world as His love shines through us when we love one another.

v. 14 "Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world." John DID see Jesus, who is God in human form, and so he can assure us of this truth. I remember memorizing this verse as a child (in the King James Version) "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." We believe the truth about Jesus--that He is the Son of God, He IS God, He came to be the sacrifice for our sins, He died and rose again, He is in heaven today, and He will one day return.  Because we believe this and apply it to our lives, we have salvation and the Holy Spirit lives in us. vv. 15-16

As we learn more about God, become more obedient to Him, and grow as believers, our love becomes more mature. We can look forward to meeting Him with confidence because we are striving to live like Jesus here on earth--I think particularly in the way we love since the theme of this passage seems to be love. v. 17

Psalm 22:1-5
I have to admit I've been procrastinating getting into this Psalm! It actually can be understood on 2 levels. It is a Messianic psalm which means that it looks ahead to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. This particular Messianic psalm deals with Jesus' crucifixion. As we read through it, we're amazed that it was written centuries before Jesus came. This shows us that God knows the future, and that we can depend on His Word to be absolute truth.

The psalm can also be understood on a human level. David was in the depths of despair. He didn't pretend that everything was wonderful, but he was completely honest with God just as we should be.

"My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief." vv. 1-2

When it seems that God is not hearing or answering us, we should remember that this happened to David too--and probably to every believer who has ever lived!

So what did David do?
He praised God anyway. v. 3
He remembered how God had worked in the past. v. 4-5

This is exactly what we should do, when God does not seem to be answering. We should praise God for all His blessings and grace and mercy and wisdom and power and love, etc. Then we should remember what God has already done in our own lives, especially our salvation, as well as what is recorded in the Bible.