Photo by Jodi. Mahlendorf Lake Okoboji sunrise view. October 2013

I am loving this book called Name above All Names – Sinclair Ferguson and Alistair Begg:

[Satan in essence says to Eve when tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit,] “God is cynical; he does not want the best for you, nor does he give the best to you. He is toying with you for his own malicious pleasure. He doesn’t really love you. He despises you.”

The rest is history. Eve struggled with the temptation, but the poisonous thought was already injected through her now-confused mind into her affections and will. From there it has passed down into our bloodstream. It is in our system now. It is the twist within us that leads us not to believe and not to trust that God himself and everything—absolutely everything—he is, does, says, commands, and promises is good…

The heart of the gospel is: in demonstration of his love, the heavenly Father sent his only Son to die on the cross in our place and for our sins. “God demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”59

It is the cross alone that ultimately proves the love of God to us—not the providential circumstances of our lives.

We must not allow ourselves to be tricked into thinking that if things are going well with us, then we can be sure of God’s love. For life can often seem dark and painful. Things do not always go well for us.

Rather, we look to the sacrifice of the cross and the demonstration God gave there of his love.

This is the proof I need. This is the truth I need to hear if the lie is to be dispelled. If Jesus has died for me, then I can be sure that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will stop at nothing (absolutely nothing!) to do me good: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?60