All of Me

All that we are
Originally uploaded by insashi

29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath. (Deuteronomy 4)

It’s pretty clear that God wanted the devotion of the children of Israel. He warned them in previous verses that he is a jealous God. He also warned them, prior to entering the Promised Land that if after they settled in, they worshipped idols of wood and stone, He would banish them to foreign lands belonging to their enemies. If from there, his people would seek Him with all of their heart and soul, then when they were in distress His people would find Him. Then they would return to the LORD and obey him. He reminds us He is merciful, and He will not abandon, destroy or forget the covenant he made.

How different is that for you or for me? How would we translate this into our modern everyday life?

If we seek God with all of our hearts we will find Him. But it takes everything we have. It’s called worship.

Are there times when we are banished to enemy territory? In a word, yes. Think about it. When we mess up we can go only so far before we realize we are out on the limb too far. Things catch up with us. We are found out. And we crash.

We find ourselves in enemy territory when we have turned away from God to our idols. Maybe it’s material things, people, destructive relationships, addictions – alcohol, sex, money, power, position. So when we crash – sin – we find ourselves estranged from God. We may find ourselves estranged from our family or friends as well. We may hit rock bottom. The principle is pretty much the same as the one we find above in Deuteronomy.

Yet if we turn away from our idols, and we seek God with all of our heart and soul, He will remember the covenant He made so long ago. 

He will be merciful. He will forgive. He will be found. 

But it takes all of me. And it takes all of you.

Lord, help us see our way out of the mess we make of our lives. And help us to seek you and to find you, with all we have within us. All of our heart. All of our soul. Thank you that your word says you will be found by us when we seek you with all that we are. Amen.