Blessed!

Blessed!

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

[2] Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

This verse is taken from the longest chapter in the bible, where the 176 verses are divided into sections of 8 verses each. Each section bears reference to God and His person and Word, which makes it clear that a life that will make impact must be connected to the person and word of God. If I do not read it, or seek opportunities to hear or listen to it, how can I know the mind of God, what he desires or demands of me, and what He has supplied to help me meet these demands? The world will have me focus on the things that promote self and encourage selfishness; God will have me focus on the things that are of eternal value. The things of God do not come naturally to the natural man, because the desires and pursuits of the natural man are fundamentally different from those of the spiritual man. The one who has given His life to Jesus has desires, pursuits and priorities that line up with that new identity. This has to be the start of any discussion around impact, blessing and eternal life. 

We want to get the blessing, and we want to appropriate the benefits, but God is not a magician who seeks to distract by sleight of hand or misdirection. He makes it clear what the conditions for blessings are, and then He supplies the grace I need in order to align with the conditions. The key to the blessing in the verse above is to "keep His statutes". You have to know them if you are to keep them. You have to spend time reading, studying and meditating on them in order to commit them to long-term memory, and then also ask for grace to help you keep them. The statutes are not the subject of negotiations, where I get to pick and choose the ones I will keep. As long as God is the source, I must keep seeking His help. I cannot rely on education, expertise, experience or earnings alone; God wants me to seek Him as the only One. He will not compete for attention or allegiance with anyone or anything else. My whole heart must be committed to the search too. God hates hypocrisy and eye-service, and I will do well to note that with Him, all motives and intentions are laid bare before Him. Would you seek him with all your heart? He waits for us. God's time of favour is here.