Heart Matters: Jesus Loves Me this I Know

If I had to choose one song which has been the most powerful and helpful for me, I think it would be Jesus Loves Me this I Know.

As a pastor, I’ve had opportunities to minister to people facing many types of struggles and heartaches.  Really tough stuff.  I’ve sat with families as their loved ones passed away.  I’ve prayed with families who have lost children.  Others were caring for a family member with dementia, or were bravely facing cancer (for the second time), or had been abandoned or mistreated by a spouse who had vowed to be faithful and care for them, or had suffered unspeakable abuse as a child, or had been an eyewitness to a brutal massacre.  It’s a blessing to minister to such people because I have seen so much God-given courage, strength, and hope in the midst of the sorrow.

Over the years, I’ve come to believe there are a few great truths which anchor people through such trials.  Those who hold on to these truths are able to weather the most ferocious storms of life and come through to the other side with the light of Christ shining through the cracks of their broken hearts.

Here are some of those “anchor truths”:

1.  God is great and powerful and thus able to deal with any problem we face.

2.  God is entirely good and never does anything wrong.

3.  God loves you.  He cares about you.

Of these truths, most Christians have no doubt at all about #1.  We know God is really big and powerful.  We occasionally struggle with #2, but at least for those who have been receiving Christian teaching for years, we generally can hold on to that one.  It seems to me it is the third truth that all Hell attacks. This is often the center of the battle in a Christian’s heart.  Often a believer will know in theory that God loves them, but we sometimes struggle to feel it and hold on to it when we are under an assault from evil forces.  We usually don’t need a lot of “advanced theology” at times like that. Instead, we need to hold on firmly to this truth: 

Jesus love me this I know,

for the Bible tells me so. 

Little ones to Him belong,

We are weak, but You are strong.^*

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

The Bible tells me so.

^*(I like to personalize the song by changing “They are weak, but He is strong” to “We are weak, but You are strong”.)

This simple song reminds me of the mighty prayer of the Apostle Paul:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

(Eph. 3:14-21 NIV)

Notice that Paul doesn’t merely pray for Christians to know that God loves them.  More specifically, He prays that they will have strength to hold on to the truth that God loves them. We need to be deeply rooted and we need to have strength to hold on to the great truth that God loves us.  It’s easy to believe God loves us when all is going well and life is good and we’re being successful.  But Paul is writing to Christians in the real world who are often under intense assault from the world, the devil and his hordes of demons, and even the sinful desires of our own flesh.  Paul is praying for us so that, in the midst of all this, we will have strength to hold on and even to know more fully and deeply than ever before this mighty truth:  Jesus loves me.

So the next time the demons are lying to you or someone you love is under attack, fight back. Sing Jesus Loves Me, this I Know. Submit to God’s truth.  Resist the devil.  He will flee (see James 4:7).

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .