All!

All!

Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart— Psalms 119:2 NIV

When God pronounces blessings, I have to pay close attention to what he says, and the conditions attached to the blessings. As much as God wants to bless people, he has terms and conditions for access to those blessings. Just as it was laid out a few days ago, I can shout from now to tomorrow: "I receive", but if my life is not aligned with the demands of the blessings, it is a waste of time to seek access to the blessings. I want to be blessed; in fact, I need to be blessed. One day of God's favour and gain can erase 40 years of pain. God does not have a problem giving to all men on earth what they ask for; after all, no demand on earth can exhaust the resources of heaven. 

However, today's extract gives an insight into one of the conditions for access: 'keep his statutes'. I note that the word keep is used. This is not about head knowledge of God's statutes. It is not about living on the church's pulpit. It is not about the drama on the outside, empty on the inside. It is not about hypocrisy, which the world has mastered. A man who will keep something would know and appreciate the value of what he holds. And they are called 'statutes' for a reason: they are not subject to the unpredictable weather or the passage of time. Sin does not change form simply because it has been 2,000 years since God first called it sin. 

God is not man who compromises on any matter simply because he does not want to be alone. God needs no such false comfort. His laws are for my good, and my life will be better off when I obey. Closely related to keeping God's statutes is the state of my heart. This is where the daily decision on whether to obey or not is debated and decided. As long as there is room for alternative arguments, I will not have reason to seek God with ALL my heart. That is another key concept in today's extract: seek God with all their heart. People in plural; heart in singular. Focused commitment, so true that all our hearts can read as one. 

Why bother seeking God if you won't do it with all your heart? Why bother seeking God if you won't be true to the search, and you are hypocritical and insincere about it? This God isn't one you can deceive with outward platitudes, or hoodwink him into releasing his blessings for no reason or by deceit. You are introduced to a God of absolute knowledge and power, who can't be deceived, and who has limitless resources for all who will come to him. The keeping and the seeking go together; you really can't do one without the other. You can't seek God, know him and not be excited to keep all his laws. And there is an eternity to consider; when all is said and done, have I made God my all, so I can access his all? God's time of favour is here.