In two
previous posts I expressed my desire to experience the presence of God and my
understanding of how this might come about. This post continues the discussion.
Jeremiah 29:12-13
offers this promise: “Then when you call upon me and
come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me;
if you seek me with all your heart.”
These words from
Jeremiah are very encouraging to me in my quest to know God and experience God
personally. They tell me God hears my prayer and I can find God. This will come
as I seek God with all my heart. The biblical understanding of heart is much bigger and deeper that our
usual usage today. It describes the core of our being and the center of our
will and action, as well as the source of our love, our deepest desire and
commitment.
Loving God is central
to the religion of Israel as seen in Deuteronomy 6:5-7, the Shema, the basic
confession of faith: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is
our God, the LORD alone.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you
today in your heart.”
When I re-read these
words recently, I was struck by a question: Do I really love God? I think about
God. I pray to God, I worship God. But do I love God? Do I devote my whole
being—heart, soul, and strength to God? Do I desire to be close to God? Do I
feel affection for God? Do I long for the presence of God? Do I value God above
all else? And I had to answer, Not always, maybe not very often.
This led me to a
decision. I will meditate on loving God. I will sit quietly in God’s presence
and allow my feelings as well as my thoughts to reach out to God. I will meditate
on God’s love for me. 1 John 4:10 reminds us that love starts with God’s love
for us: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that
he loved us.”
I am convinced
that we will experience God when we devote ourselves to loving God with all our
heart. And, as I will discuss in the next post, loving God also involves loving our neighbor, and acting out that love in ways that bring us into contact with God.
