# Love (H0157) Study ## ToDo - ToDo Study - --- 2022.02.23 - See [[H0157]] for more info - Part of speech: verb - Number of occurrences: - My definition of this word that I refer to as Gary’s Bible Definition (GBD) is based on the BibleHub (BH) and Helps-Word-Studies (HWS) definitions modified by what I see in scripture. - to love - human love for another, includes family, and sexual - human appetite for objects such as food, drink, sleep, wisdom - to like - to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) - to love the Lord is to be absolutely loyal and obedient to him in every respect - Scripture examples - 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who _**love**_ Me and keep My commandments. [Exodus 20.4-5 (BSB), Deuteronomy 5.8-10 (BSB)] - But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” [Joshua 22.5] - Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God. [Joshua 23.11 (BSB)] - “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’ [Nehemiah 1.5b-9 (BSB)] - 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. [Daniel 9.3 (BSB)] - 4 And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, and fathers, and to all the people of the land. [Daniel 9.4-6 (BSB)] - 23 Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant. 24 Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the LORD. [Psalm 31.23-24 (BSB)] - 1 I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live. [Psalm 116.1-2 (BSB)] - 12 How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me? 13 I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people. [Psalm 116.12-14 (BSB)] - Psalm 145 - 1 I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. - 3 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—5 the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works. 6 They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. 7 They will extol the fame of Your abundant goodness and sing joyfully of Your righteousness. - 8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion. 9 The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made. 10 All You have made will give You thanks, O LORD, and Your saints will bless You. 11 They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might, 12 to make known to men Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful in all His words and kind in all His actions. - 14 The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season. 16 You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. - 17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. 20 The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. 21 My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD; let every creature bless His holy name forever and ever. - 4 May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” [Psalm 70.4 (BSB)] - 10 Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light shines on the righteous, gladness on the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous ones, and praise His holy name. [Psalm 97.10-13 (BSB)] - Select verses from [[Psalm_119|Psalm 119]] (BSB) - 47 I delight in Your commandments because I love them. - 48 I lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love, and I meditate on Your statutes. - 97 Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation. - 113 The double-minded I despise, but Your law I love. - 119 All the wicked on earth You discard like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies. - 127 Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, even the purest gold. - 132 Turn to me and show me mercy, as You do to those who love Your name. - 140 Your promise is completely pure; therefore Your servant loves it. - 159 Consider how I love Your precepts, O LORD; give me life according to Your loving devotion. - 163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law I love. - 165 Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing can make them stumble. - 167 I obey Your testimonies and love them greatly. - My thoughts - It seems there are a few consistent elements the Bible uses to describe what loving God looks like - Walk in His ways - Obey / keep His commandments - Hold fast to Him - Serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul - God made a bold promise that He would keep His covenant of loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments - We, mankind tend to wander from God. We need to “watch ourselves carefully” that we may love the Lord, our God. A good example is Solomon. In the beginning, “loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David” [1 Kings 3.3]. However, in the latter years of his reign he fell away. - Our wandering is inevitable. However, when, not if we sin, we must confess our sins, repent and turn back to God. [Nehemiah 1.5b-9, Daniel 9.4-6] - We must seek God by whatever means is necessary to get our attention refocused on Him. I don’t think the methods matters to God, but sometimes we need to go to extreme methods to truly get OUR attention. [Daniel 9.3 ] - Psalm 31.23-24 - There’s a connection between loving God and: - being faithful - being humble, not arrogant - being strong and courageous - Psalm 116.1-2 & 12-14 - It is impossible to repay the Lord for all His goodness to us including listening to our whiny cry for mercy. However, we can commit to: - Call on Him as long as we live - Fulfill our vows to Him in the presence of all His people. BTW, if we identify as Christians, then we made a vow to trust in Jesus. We need to fulfill that vow everywhere we go. - Psalm 145 - Praising and thanking God is a way to love Him - Although most translations say in verse 3 that God’s greatness is unsearchable, I truly believe that God want’s us to seek after Him and know Him to best our human limitations. Jesus even “commanded” us to ask, seek and knock and promised our Father in heaven would give good things to those who ask Him [Matthew 7.7-11] - Psalm 70.4 - There seem to be two points in this verse that David wrote - The first half of the verse talks about seeking God and rejoicing and being glad in Him - The second half talks about loving His salvation. - This seems to be more focused on what God can do for me - David does say that even the inwardly focused thoughts should be about praising God - I personally think that it is better to seek God and rejoice and be glad in who He is rather than seek what He can do for me - Regardless whether my motivation is focused on God or focused on me, I need to praise Him - Psalm 97.10-13 - The author of this psalm provided a few insights into loving God - Hate evil - Rejoice in Him - Praise His holy name - Psalm 119 - I acknowledge there are numerous scriptures connecting mankind loving God with obeying His commands and John said “the Word was God” - However, I noticed for the first time today in Psalm 119 the author’s focus was not on loving on God Himself, but on loving His commandments, statutes, law, testimonies, name, promise, precepts, instruction - I don’t think is is possible to truly love God without loving all that He created to include the legal stuff. However, I feel there is more to loving God than just the legal stuff.