The love of Jehovah is massive and incomparable to the love of man. You might wonder why this enormous love of God could not prove itself in some situations.

I remembered an old story of a king and his slave. “The king, who did not believe in the goodness of God, had a slave who, in all circumstances, said: “My king, do not be discouraged, because everything God does is perfect, no mistakes!”

One day they went hunting and along the way a wild animal attacked the king. His slave managed to kill the animal, but could not prevent his majesty losing a finger. Furious and without showing his gratitude for being saved, the nobleman said “Is God loving? If He loves me, I would not have been attacked and lost my finger”.

The slave replied: “My king, despite all these things, I can only tell you that God is good, and he knows ‘why’ of all these things”. Outraged by the response, the king ordered the arrest of his slave.

Later, he left for another hunt and was captured by savages who made human sacrifices. In the altar, ready to sacrifice the nobleman, the savages found that the victim had not one of his fingers, so he was released. According to them, it was not so complete to be offered to the gods.

Upon his return to the palace, he authorized the release of his slave that he received very affectionately. “I really enjoyed the love of Jehovah! I was almost killed by the wild men, but for lack of a single finger, I was let go! But I have a question: if God loves, why did He allow me to put you in jail?”

The slave replied: “My king, if I had gone with you in this hunt, I would have been sacrificed for you, because I have no missing finger. Thus, the love of God has always been established in every situation.”

The love of Jehovah is not slack. Some preachers made us to believe that the love of God will permit ‘everything’ we choose to do. But, a lot of people got disappointed that God could not satisfy all their (self) wishes, so they left the church to become an atheist.

A series of Bible studies and events on earth made it known that the love of Jehovah is so much with us. Some folks thought that God’s love is handicapped. But, I would like to share some things the love of Jehovah cannot do.

1. Love of Jehovah Cannot Condone Disobedience

There is a false believe in our midst that the love of Jehovah will stop Him from punishing Christians for any commandment we disobeyed. How can we claim to be a Christian and still delight in worldly actions?

The love of God forgives sins, but He does not urge you to continue sinning. First John chapter 3 verses 1 to 10 says: “…Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness…He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

For instance, can you blame God for the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Genesis chapter 3 verses 2 to 6: “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” …So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”

The Lord sent them out of the garden; does that mean God did not love them? No! They had been forewarned, but they choose to obey the serpent.

The love of Jehovah in your life does not give you the license to misbehave, because there is discipline in it.

2. Love of Jehovah Cannot Support Impatience

Can we blame God for Abraham’s family crisis? The LORD promised Abraham that He would make him the father of all nations, but he wasn’t patient enough. Abraham obeyed his wife’s advice and that marked the beginning of a great division in the human race.

Genesis chapter 16 verses 1 to 6 says: “…So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai… So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.”

Is it fair to blame the love of Jehovah when we find ourselves in troubles that originated from our impatience?

There are lots of youths in jail because of financial crimes such as; drug trafficking, fraud, robbery and so on. They want to get rich overnight, but the law of the land caught up with them. Does that mean the judge in the court of law refused to love the criminals? No!

Similarly, the atheists chose to hate God because they expected the love of Jehovah to support their selfish attitude of impatience.

3. Love of Jehovah Cannot Embrace Unfaithfulness

There are various crises in the world such as: terrorism, corruption, poverty, economic crunch, crime to humanity and so on. I discovered that all these crises caused by men were as a result of unfaithfulness to one another.

Thus, can we blame God’s love for the predicament caused by people in the society?

The false teachers preached to us that once we believe in Jesus, we can do ‘anything’ and the love of Jehovah will save us. But, I had discovered from the Word of God that His love cannot embrace unfaithfulness.

For instance, the Israelites were not faithful to God in the wilderness. So, only two of the adult generation got to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 34 to 38: “And the LORD heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the LORD.’… Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.”

Also, Jesus expressed His love to the Jews, but they remained unfaithful. Thus, we cannot blame Jesus for the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 23 verses 37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

The love of Jehovah controls the faithful worshippers as explained in the book of John chapter 4 verses 23 and 24: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

4. Love of Jehovah Cannot Help Carelessness

Some people believed that once they become a Christian, Jesus Christ will always disallow the repercussion of any careless act they engaged to do. Hmm! Accepting Jesus implies carefulness.

For instance, the love of Jehovah towards king Solomon was so great that He blessed him with wisdom and wealth. But, can we blame the love of God for king Solomon’s carelessness with the beautiful women?

I wept when I read the later part of king Solomon: “But king Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.

Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines…that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God…So the LORD became angry with Solomon…”(1King11:1-25)

5. Love of Jehovah Cannot Befriend the Hypocrite

Hypocrites are people who pretend to serve the Lord. They are good in church activities, but their lifestyles are not Christ-like. The love of Jehovah in your life does not give you the liberty to love the ‘things’ of this world.

Jesus understood this fact, and that was the essence of His reply to the devil when He was tempted. Matthew chapter 4 verses 8 to 10 says: “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

You cannot be active in sin and expect the love of Jehovah to open the doors of Heaven for you.

The love of God was expressed through Jesus for the salvation of everyone, but He never befriends the hypocrites. Listen to one of his responses to the hypocrite: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27)

The love of Jehovah can save sinners and they become saints. Meanwhile, His main priority is to help all saints to enjoy their eternity in heaven. Thus, God’s love can neither promote selfishness nor support ungodliness.