Loving God – Part 1

This past weekend I was able to connect via phone with two of my dear girlfriends. Near the end of both calls, we exchanged prayer requests. I thought it significant that they both requested (independently of each other) the exact same thing – to truly love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, with a special emphasis on loving God with their whole heart. Both expressed that it takes more than just loving and knowing God on an intellectual level (mind), communicating with Him (soul), and serving Him (strength). There also has to be the sincere devotion of the heart.

These conversations have prompted much thought on my part, and I wanted to take the time to write about different thoughts I’ve had. For sake of space and time, I want to do this as a series of sorts, starting by considering what it means to love God with all your heart. Later I want to be able to examine what it means to love God with all of the components listed, and also what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But first, the heart.

I think it is significant that the heart is the first on the list of things with which we’re supposed to love God. As mentioned in an earlier post, our heart controls emotions, structures dreams, and harbors imaginations. To an extent, we can do all of these things with our minds, but ultimately they are guided by our hearts. Because of that, we can’t truly love God with any other aspect of our being unless we first love Him with our hearts.

A verse that helps explain this idea of loving God with all of your heart is Psalm 86:11 where the psalmist prays for God to “unite my heart to fear thy name.” It is so easy to think we love God with our hearts, when really we only do so at an intellectual level. We feign devotion when really our hearts are set on things other than God. When we truly love God, it means we are willing to give up our dreams for the future (and the present) and live content in Him. When our hearts love Him, we are freed from harmful emotions, because they will all be directed to one place – God. And when we love God with all of our hearts, we are able to maintain a proper focus on all of life.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” The heart is such a valuable treasure, and must be guarded above all else. Only by surrendering my heart to God can I truly love Him with all of my being. Am I willing to “unite my heart” when it so desperately wants to be divided between different interests? Can I stand to seek the Lord with my whole heart, even when I’m tempted to become slack in my walk with Him?

Loving God with all of our hearts is a discipline. It requires constant guard and protection against competing interests. To love is to choose, and to choose one thing is to reject another. A directed focus of the will on loving God is required. But loving God brings the greatest joy and fulfillment. In no other thing can our hearts be truly satisfied but in God. Dare we love Him with all of our hearts?

Before ending this post, I feel a disclaimer must be made. I started reading “The Problem of Pain” today by C.S. Lewis, and completely identified with his preface to the book. When asked to write, he requested that he write anonymously, because “I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridiculous if anyone knew who made them.” After rejecting his request of anonymity, the point was made that Lewis could write a preface explaining that he did “not live up to his own principles.” That is exactly what he did, and it is what I feel I must do as well. What I write is not what I have completely learned, taken hold of, and applied. Rather, it is a shaky attempt to encourage, exhort, and cheer my brothers and sisters in their journey of faith – their race through life. And I pray it is just that.

Resting

The last few weeks have not been conducive to writing very much. They’ve been filled with change – change in direction for the next year or so (in terms of a degree), change in some plans for this fall, change in what I choose to study in my spare time. I’ve had many thoughts that I’ve wanted to write about, but haven’t yet found the time to do so. Even as I write now, I’m putting off studying for a few minutes. The past three weeks have been filled to the brim, and sometimes I’m discouraged that I can’t seem to find time for all the things I want to do. There are so many books to read, thoughts to think, memories to make, etc. etc. etc. It is a challenge at times to rest in the fact that God is orchestrating certain events in my life for the better. But resting is so key; I’m not going to understand everything He does, but I can find peace and joy in the fact that He is moving, and He is love.

A few things have encouraged me lately, and before I close I’d like to share them with you. The first has been Oswald Chambers’ book, My Utmost For His Highest. Each day brings new insight and thought that has helped me tremendously in the area of resting. For today, he wrote, “There are times in spiritual life when there is confusion, and it is no way out to say that there ought not to be confusion. It is not a question of right and wrong, but a question of God taking you by a way which in the meantime you do not understand, and it is only by going through confusion that you will get at what God wants. . . If there is a shadow on the face of the Father just now, hang onto it that He will ultimately give clear revealing and justify Himself in all that He permitted. . . ‘When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?’ Will He find the faith which banks on Him in spite of the confusion?”

That’s what I want, more than anything else, is to have that kind of faith. The faith that trusts in the goodness of God, in spite of confusing circumstances.

The second thing that has encouraged me is the Word of God itself. I’ve been reading through 1 Samuel lately, and am reminded again and again of God’s faithfulness. This morning I found some of the Psalms that David wrote during his time of running from Saul, and they are so beautiful. In them you find the cry of a man hunted, but still trusting in God. The God who watched over David still takes delight in guiding and watching over His children today. I’ve also been meditating on Psalm 42 lately. It has always been a favorite, but has recently taken on new significance as I find myself relating to more of the cries of the Psalmist. Perhaps there will be more about that later.

Finally, I’ve had a song (a hymn) running through my head lately that has encouraged me. The second and third stanzas of The Solid Rock have spoken to me lately of God’s never-ending faithfulness.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

Hopefully, I’ll be writing more in the near future. As I work on a frequently changing schedule for this fall, I’m hoping to plot in time for more regular writing. But until the next time I write for this blog, remember to “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”

“And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.”