The following is one of a series of short devotionals based on my book, “God’s Love For You”
God’s thoughts toward you are motivated by love. All seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion of them!
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand.” (Psalm 139:17-18)
When you love someone, you think about that person all the time. If you are newly in love, you might dream about the person you love, and be distracted by thoughts of them because you love everything about them, even perhaps, their bad habits! In the same way, God is in love with you. He thought of you before you were born, planning from the beginning of time that you should be born into the world at this time, into this generation. The Bible says that you were not born because of human decision, or a husband’s will, but “born of God” (John 1:13) You were his choice!
You may not think about God all the time, but he is always thinking about you. In fact, the Bible tells us in Romans 8:34 that Jesus is interceding for you in heaven. The verse does not say that he was interceding in the past, or will intercede in the future, but that he is interceding, implying that it is a present, ongoing action, (meaning that you are presently in his thoughts and will continue to be). In fact, you are being prayed for right now as you read these words!
God’s thoughts about you far outnumber your own thoughts of your loved ones or indeed of him. Our opening scripture from Psalm 139:17-18 tells us that God’s thoughts about us outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore! How many grains of sand do you imagine there are on all the shores of the world? Science writer David Blatner, described in his book Spectrums, (Bloomsbury Press, 2014), how a group of researchers at the University of Hawaii decided to try to calculate the number of grains of sand. By assuming a grain of sand is an average size and calculating how many grains are in a teaspoon, then multiplying that number by all the beaches and deserts in the world, the Earth has approximately seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains! Or, 7,500,000,000,000,000,000. God has more thoughts than that about you! And they are good thoughts!
How does it feel to know that the Creator of the universe has you foremost in his thoughts? You might be thinking at this point, that perhaps some of God’s thoughts about you are those of regret or disappointment, but this is not so. He sees beyond your pain and struggles. He sees who he created you to be and sees your spirit. His love for you is perfect and unconditional, and is not based on your merit or maturity, but rather on the fact that you are his child. He believes in you and thinks of you with pride and joy. His thoughts towards you are peace and goodness:
“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.” (Jeremiah 29:11 Amplified Bible)
God’s thoughts toward you are motivated by love. All seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion of them! We often struggle with what others think of us, but all that really matters is what God thinks of us. Furthermore, if all of his many thoughts are motivated by love and wellbeing, surely our own anxious thoughts and doubts are outnumbered too. No matter how many anxious thoughts you have had today, or this week, God’s thoughts of love and protection outnumber them all.
Prayer: Father, I’m amazed and humbled when I think of your thoughts of me. Thank you for loving me with such an unconditional and immeasurable love! May this knowledge encourage me and defeat any fearful thoughts that seek to distract me from your truth. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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