Love and Mercy Meet Truth and Justice: 11 Quotes from Glenna Marshall’s Newest Book, “Known and Loved”
Years ago I led a funeral where a family member asked me to read Psalm 139 during the service. The daughter told me, “But stop before the weird parts.” The weird parts, she felt, were those parts of the famous psalm that speak of God’s punishment of his enemies.
I wouldn’t call those parts weird, but I understand why they need to be handled more carefully and don’t fit as well at most funeral services.
This particular psalm of King David includes lines that many Christians would find familiar, even if they didn’t realize they came from here. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you,” writes David, “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:13–14).
But this psalm is not merely for David. Rightly understood, the psalms are not so much an anthology of his private prayers and those from a few other authors. Rather, the psalms are the hymn book for all the people of God. The poems were crafted, set to music, and given for us all to sing and savor God. However, if we are to read them and believe them and sing them, we need to understand them—even the parts that seem weird.
Popular author and speaker Glenna Marshall recently published a book with Moody Publishers titled Known and Loved: Experiencing the Affection of God in Psalm 139. I’ve appreciated all of Marshall’s recent books, including this one.
Her book is not a long book, yet in the acknowledgments section, Marshall tells readers, “Of the books I’ve written so far, this one has been the most difficult to pen” (157). Trying to faithfully reflect the attributes of God—the fullness of all that our Creator is—kept her up at night.
I’m sure such reflection could fill all of us with holy anxiety if we really contemplated the gladness and gravity of God and were tasked with telling others about him faithfully. Marshall’s prayers and labors and, I suspect, even her trepidation, were not in vain. She has given readers humble, honest, and helpful reflections to consider that God knows all that can be known about his people, and he loves them anyway. The gospel of Jesus really is good news.
Below are eleven quotes from the book, one from each chapter, including chapter 7, where Marshall discusses how Christians might understand and embody prayers that curse our enemies.
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He sent Jesus to stand in your place at the cross. He didn’t save you in love and then scowl in displeasure when you didn’t deserve it. His love continues, no matter how poorly we grasp it. He loves to love you. That’s a weird sentence to write and an even weirder one to believe. He loves to love us.
(from Introduction, 15)So, take all of that intimate past, present, and future knowledge that God has about me and you—and multiply it by billions. Trillions. I have no idea how many people have lived or will live throughout history, but He does. And He knows everything about them. From their life’s goals to the number of freckles on their skin—He has known them. From our curious idiosyncrasies to the outlandish thoughts that keep us awake at night—He is acquainted with all our ways.
(from chapter 1, 23)We replace prayer with search engines, fusing together our trust in God with all the research the internet might produce. But is it really trust when you have all the answers? Does your constant search for knowledge bring true peace and trust in the Lord? Or does it fuel your anxiety as you second-guess every decision?
(from chapter 2, 42)We don’t have a Savior who is distant or aloof or disconnected from the human experience. He knows what it is to be human, to be tempted, to feel the way we do. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He doesn’t scowl, point fingers, or take back His propitiation.
(from chapter 3, 60)If the death of a bird is noticed by God, how much more the suffering of His children? Your hidden suffering is seen by Him, for as our psalmist demonstrates, darkness is not dark to the Lord. Night shines as “bright as the day” with Him.
(from chapter 4, 72)The unreliable narrator of my childhood and teen years told me a damaging story about myself that was colored by our culture’s unattainable standards of beauty. I struggled with various forms of disordered eating for years because of the one comment from a ten-year-old that I chose to believe with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Believing that one opinion about my body led me to weave a narrative about myself that shaped my heart and mind for decades. My mind was the protagonist; my body was the antagonist. But because I was an embodied soul, I was both hero and villain, locked in a war I was destined to lose.
(from chapter 5, 83)The dashes on our future tombstones can’t capture all of God’s thoughts of us. The sins you have fought in your life don’t define His thoughts of you. Neither do the good things you have worked to achieve in this life, not ultimately. Here’s what matters about your life in the end: You were dead in your sins but He made you alive.
(from chapter 6, 108–9)The apostle Paul tells us to bless those who persecute us and act kindly toward them. In the very same paragraph, he tells us why we can do this: “Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Rom. 12:19, quoting Deut. 32:35). Read those words again and closely. This is both kindness and imprecation. This is how Christians are to think toward those who persecute them, who hate God and those who associate with His name. Don’t avenge yourself. Trust God to take care of it with His wrath. In the meantime, be kind to those who come against you. Paul braids the imprecatory prayer for God to avenge the wicked in His righteous wrath with the command to love and bless those who are mistreating us for our faith in Jesus. It’s so upside-down. Love and mercy meet truth and justice. This is the Christian way.
(from chapter 7, 118)To anyone who pushes back against your bleak view of God’s love, you are armed with a stack of warnings against apostasy. Fear is your shield, and doubt is your sword. But they’ll crumble if you realize you’re giving yourself too much credit for your faithfulness to Jesus.
(from chapter 8, 132–3)He has never left you and never will. He has delighted in you, and He has disciplined you, and He has loved you with an everlasting love.
(from chapter 9, 153)
* Photo by Alexey Sviridkin on Unsplash
