Day 4: Completely His Today's reading is drawn from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. IN ADDITION TO HELPING US gain a better understanding of who God is and what God does, the pages of the Old Testament also communicate to us what God wants. He doesn’t keep His desires hidden or shrouded in mystery. In Exodus 20, we learn that God wants our obedience. He gives a list of ways to obey: His Ten Commandments. They include phrases such as “you must” and “you must not” and words like “remember” and “honor.” This list is still very relevant today. Elsewhere, we learn that God wants our praise. He desires to hear praise from our lips and our hearts. David praises God like this many times (see, for instance, 1 Chronicles 29, where he blesses God’s name). In Micah 6:8, we find that God wants us to do what is right—to deal with others justly. He wants us to love mercy—to be gracious, compassionate, and caring. He wants us to walk humbly, even when He blesses us and prospers the work of our hands. What is at the core of these things? What is at the core of obedience, praise, dealing with people with jus-tice and kindness, and walking humbly? What is at the core of God’s desires? Deuteronomy 6:4-9 provides an answer: God wants us to be completely His. God wants our every thought, motive, word, and deed—our whole being. He wants all our heart, all our soul, all our strength. God wants us to be consumed with His will. From the most private, hidden parts of our lives all the way out to the most public moments of our lives, God wants all of us. Why does God want us to be wholeheartedly committed to Him? I see three reasons: He wants to inhabit the center of our lives, revealing all He is to us. God wants to reveal His presence, His power, His plans, His purposes, and His promises to us. Our God is committed to revealing Himself to those who are wholly His. When our hearts are completely His—when we seek His mind, when we obey His leading, when we remain open to His plan—He reveals Himself to us more and more. He wants us to have the courage we need to do visionary things. Joshua needed to be wholly committed to the Lord to go into a land full of enemies (Josh. 1). Later, King Asa needed to be wholly committed to the Lord to remove all the idols from the land of Judah (2 Chr. 15). We, too, need to be wholly committed to the Lord if we are going to have the courage we need to do hard, visionary things. He wants to give us rest on every side. When Joshua and Asa wholly followed the Lord, God gave His people “rest on every side” (Josh. 21:44; see also 2 Chr. 15:15). The Lord gave them a settled sense of secure and victorious finality. What a way to live! That’s exactly where He wants us. We find our rest in Him when we wholly follow Him. Those are the reasons why God wants us to serve Him completely, with our whole hearts and minds. He wants to be the nucleus of our lives, and He will bless us as He pleases. [call out text: God wants to be the nucleus of our lives.] |
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