A relationship with God is a precious thing. Thankfully, it is not one sided.
Did you know that God is longing for you as much as you long to know Him?
Imagine a God who so deeply loves you that He is longing to know you?
Well, get your Bible out because I want to show you how much He is longing for you.
Before we look at our main passage of scripture, I want to talk about the Old and New Covenant.
In the Old Testament, we see the people living under the Old Covenant.
What does that mean?
A Covenant is a “life agreement in which both parties pledge themselves to one another.” An earthly example of this is marriage.
God made a covenant with the Israelites and it was based on God’s law. As long as the Israelites continued to live in obedience and faithfulness to God, they would enjoy the life and purpose He had for them. It involved sacrifice and it was meant to be temporary.
It foreshadowed the perfect covenant – the New Covenant.
This New Covenant came when Jesus was sent to earth, died and was resurrected for the sins of the world. In our acceptance of Him as the Son of God, we enter into a covenant agreement with the one true God. A life agreement.
A relationship with God.
Wow. What is so exciting about the New Covenant? It is personal. Our relationship with God is meant to be lasting and completely cover sin. Where animal sacrifice offered temporary covering of sin, the blood of Christ is able to remove sin and break the bonds of sin. That, my friends, is exciting.
Back to Deuteronomy 5… the 10 Commandments.
Moses had been to the mountain to receive the law. He came back to the people and shows them the tablets. You will have no other gods, do not make for yourselves idols, do not misuse the name of the Lord, observe the Sabbath, honor your parents, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, and do not covet.
When you read this chapter, you see that God meant to give the law to all of Israel. He called all of Israel together but they were afraid. They saw the mountain, saw the fire, felt His glory and majesty and told Moses to go alone. They walked away. But, before walking away from the very presence of God, they told Moses, “Go near and listen… then tell us whatever the Lord tells you. We will listen and obey.”
They had an opportunity to hear it from God’s voice and they turned away while promising to obey with their mouths, their words. But, God saw their hearts.
Verse 28 says, “The Lord heard you when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep my commands always…” God saw right through them. He saw through their words and their fear for their physical bodies and knew that they were just trying to say the right thing. It wasn’t in their hearts.
God was building a covenant, a relationship with His people and He knew that their words didn’t match their hearts. He also knew what was to come. And, God used the prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, to plant seeds about the New Covenant.
The lasting, perfect covenant. A lasting, perfect relationship with God.
Both prophets mention a “new heart”, a heart that will know God and follow His decrees and be careful to obey His laws. Ezekiel 11:19 says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
Read Deuteronomy 5:28-29 again.
Do you hear the longing in the voice of God?
“Oh, that their hearts…” He is longing for a personal relationship with His people. He is hurting that they are walking away from His presence. He wants to talk to them, be real with them, allow them to hear His voice and get to know Him but they ask to leave.
They let their fear stop them from being in the presence of a God who loves them. God is longing to have relationship with us. He wants to get personal with us. He wants our hearts, not just our words. He sees through our words and our fears. He knows what is in our hearts and He wants to give us a new heart that is beating to obey Him. Obedience out of love for a personal God. Obedience in a real relationship with God.
Psalm 81:11-12 says, “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” Don’t let that be said of you!
Let this be the cry of your heart this week. Let this be the attitude of your heart.
Allow God to get personal with you. He is longing for you… do you long for Him?
I was reading the other day the Psalm that says, “as the deer pants after the water, so my soul longs after you” and thought that I don’t long for God that way. My life is comfortable, so in that I can be neglectful of my dependence on Him. He is an awesome God!
Oh, everytime I read this I think wow, they were right there and they could have spoken to God as Moses did. How could they turn from that opportunity? Yet we do the same thing. We allow other things to take the place of that relationship with Him. Thank you for the reminder that God longs to be with me. It’s up to me to take the time to get close to Him.
Honestly, there are so many times I need admonition and reminders. My mind wanders off on things that need done. I wish to long for God all the time. I love being close to Him. I love spending time with Him. As I think of longing after Him, I think how my mind wanders. I am glad for reminders to reign in my thoughts and reach for Him, to quiet myself, to communicate with Him. I am glad for daily reminders that I need to do this because I, truly, want to…my heart needs to.
God Bless,
Candie