Bible Verses About God’s Love for You: 14 Verses for When You Doubt It

Bible verses about God’s love when you feel unlovable

Every verse in this guide is quoted from the World English Bible, with a line about where it comes from. These three are for the days you’re sure you have disqualified yourself.

• Romans 5:8. “But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Paul’s point is the timing. God didn’t wait for anyone to improve first.
• Ephesians 2:4–5. “But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”. Paul spends three verses on how lost his readers were, then turns on two words: “But God”.
• Deuteronomy 7:7–8. “The LORD didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you”. Moses tells Israel there was no impressive reason. God loves them because he loves them.

Bible verses about God’s love when you feel forgotten

• Isaiah 49:15–16. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you! Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” God’s reply to a people who had just said, “the Lord has forgotten me.” (Isaiah 49:14).
• Jeremiah 31:3. “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.” Spoken to an Israel scattered by exile.
• Romans 8:38–39. “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul tries to name everything that could come between you and God, then adds anything he missed.

Bible verses about what God’s love is like

• 1 John 4:9–10. “By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” From a letter written to steady Christians after a painful split. Love starts on God’s side.
• 1 John 4:16. “We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.” The same letter says “God is love” twice. Everything he does comes out of that.
• Exodus 34:6. “The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth”, God says of himself to Moses, not long after Israel made the golden calf. Later writers keep coming back to these words.
• Psalm 103:13. “Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.” David has just measured God’s love against the sky (Psalm 103:11). Now he reaches for the closest bond he knows.
• Zephaniah 3:17. “The LORD, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.” A prophet known for his warnings ends his book with God singing over his people.

Bible verses for letting God’s love sink in

• 1 John 3:1. “See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!” Children, not staff. You belong in the house.
• Ephesians 3:18–19. “may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge”. Paul prays this for people who already believe, so needing help to grasp God’s love is normal.
• Galatians 2:20. “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Paul could have written about the whole world. Here he writes “me”, twice.

What does the Bible say about God’s love for us?

The Bible says it plainly: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). His love doesn’t rise and fall with your mood or your record, because it comes from who he is.

In the Old Testament, the word to watch for is hesed, which the World English Bible usually translates as “loving kindness”. It means loyal love, the kind that has made a promise and keeps it. Psalm 136 repeats the word in all 26 of its verses.

The New Testament points to one event as the proof: God sent his Son. John 3:16 gives God’s love for the world as the reason, and it promises life to whoever trusts him. God’s love doesn’t overlook sin. It deals with sin at his own cost (1 John 4:10).

What to do when you can’t feel God’s love

Feelings come and go, and these promises don’t move with them.

1. Tell God you can’t feel it. Asaph asked, “Has his loving kindness vanished forever?” (Psalm 77:8), and that prayer is in the Bible.
2. Read Romans 8 or Psalm 103 slowly, out loud.
3. Choose one verse and put your own name in it. Isaiah 49:16 works well.
4. Write down one time you were cared for when you hadn’t earned it.
5. Let someone love you. Tell a friend or pastor how you’re doing.

Our guide to saving and memorizing Bible verses shows how to keep a verse close, and our list of Bible verses about hope may help on the days God feels far away.

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