I’ve been posting about the beauty of God’s love for us. Since He loved us first, it’s difficult to love God without this knowledge.
In my last post, I talked about how God’s love overturns the curse into a blessing. Today, I’ll show you more important aspects of His love.
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
God enjoys being with you. He longs for you to remain in His presence. It should be a place of peaceful safety for us.
The Hebrew word for quiet, in the above verse, is hard to translate. It’s main definition is to plow. Secondarily, it also means to be quiet and meditate.
This tells me that two things happen in His presence. He plows, plants His Word in us, and we meditate. In God’s love we see the sowing of His Word.
The fact is that real love sows into someone else’s life. God is the great Gardener. He plows our hearts with His love. Then we must meditate on what we see in Him.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:5 NIV
God’s love is poured out from God into our hearts. He’s sowing this love into us through the Holy Spirit. If we spend time with Him, then we’ll have the resources and ability to sow into the lives of others.
Of course there’s another aspect of God’s love that we may not readily enjoy.
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV
This is probably the aspect we like the least. In God’s love we see discipline. Yes, that word, discipline – we all need it – but we don’t look forward to it.
The word, discipline, means to be trained toward maturity or mastery. According to this passage, it involves two things we find uncomfortable.
First of all it requires rebuke which means we must be told our faults and failures. Secondly, it sometimes involves punishment.
How is this accomplished?
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11 NIV
Punishment is a short, temporary discomfort to remind you of the of the consequences of your actions. This verse makes it clear that there’s a present uncomfortable situation and an afterwards restoration.
In the natural, with every child it’s different. With some, if you talk sternly to them they’ll burst into tears. Others, you must take away phone privileges. God deals with us in the same personal way.
If we read the whole section, however, we see that the goal is a harvest of righteousness and peace. That means He wants our health, prosperity, safety, joy, fruitfulness, and fulfillment. It’s a temporary discomfort to aim your life at the goal.
Question: How have you experienced God’s discipline in your life?
© 2026 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 