May the mumbling commence!
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).” Jesus quotes these verses as a part of the greatest commandment. So ask yourself: “To what do I give all my heart and soul and strength?” God wants more than lip service and listlessly going through the motions. God wants the full devotion of our hearts, souls and minds.
And we give the Lord our best because the Lord shows His love for us by being the Great I Am, merciful and loving. If we choose to forget the basis for our devotion to God, then we will be in danger of wandering as Israel did many times. The Hebrew Bible is full of instances of God’s devotion and Israel’s wandering. Psalm 78 chronicles some of this history. I will look specifically at verses 32-39. They eloquently speak of the general pattern. Read it below:
In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.
Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.
“In spite of all this” refers to the punishment of the loving God. God allowed His people to reap what they had sown in hopes that they would return to Him. Israel had left their faith in the Lord for other things, despite the wonders that the Lord had done for them. So, the Lord turned up the heat of oppression to get Israel’s attention.
Finally they listened. Finally they remembered. Finally they proclaimed God Most High as their Redeemer. But the proclamation was only a lip service. Israel still clung to the things that they had picked up to fill the place that rightfully belonged to God. The Lord knew them even better than they knew themselves. Still, God was merciful.
I give thanks this day for the mercy of God in my life. God knows me even better than I know myself. What’s amazing – God still loves me. My deepest desire is to transform my life so that I can be a vessel of God to share this love with the world. Yes, I need ongoing transformation in my life to have a hope of being a perfect vessel carrying God’s love and light and mercy to the world.
Those who know me best can see that patience is needed. The Holy Spirit is still at work within my life. I want my life to surpass mere flattery and lip service. I want God to transform my attitude of unworthiness. I am a beloved child of God. When my attitude is transformed, then my thoughts will become healthier. My thoughts will affect my words, and my words will affect my actions. And there will be a concert of genuine praise to the Great I Am.
This potential is in each one of us. Chase after God’s heart with everything you’ve got. Be in hot pursuit of the best thing. And you will be transformed by God’s Spirit – deeply transformed in attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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