So, the concept found in Genesis 29:20 has just totally seized my heart.

So Jacob served 7 years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

I started out meditating on this verse yesterday, then the Lord completely turned my attention on another passage of scripture. The thought of really loving the LORD our God that way is overwhelming me. The way that Jacob loved Rachel is how we should love the LORD our God.  Immediately I thought of Jesus’ words in Matthew 22:37 when He told us what the greatest commandment is.

Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-15.  And it has just totally unwound me as I’ve read it this morning; it’s one of those moments where I can’t read the words on the page through tears. The greatest commandment given us is to LOVE the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The greatest. It’s the first scripture that Jewish children ever memorize. Deuteronomy 6. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. I beg you to read this slowly and personalize what He is saying here. Let’s just not read it like we always do. Don’t allow it to be familiar to you right now.

Deuteronomy 6:4-15  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and tie shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob to give you – with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant – and when you eat and are full then take care lest you forget the LORD, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods the gods of the peoples who are around you – for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God – lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from off the face of the earth.

The Lord showed me these verses as if they were smaller edible pieces.  It made me think of a couple scriptures where His Word is compared to food.  Here’s what Jeremiah said,

Jeremiah 15:16  When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

Here’s what the LORD told Ezekiel,

Ezekiel 3:3  Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Lord, may we be hungry for You today. If we’re not, I pray for a supernatural hunger to come over us even at this moment. Every other god that is vying for our attention and affection, make it sickening to us as we seek You, the LORD our God. May we be satisfied with nothing else, Lord Jesus, You alone!

So, here we go.  Let’s break Deuteronomy 6:4-15 into edible slices:

v. 4a  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The Hebrew word here, like many other Hebrew words, is difficult to fully encompass in English. I prefer the NIV because it says “all of your heart, mind, soul and strength.” It’s all of those. Our entire being. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus is telling the Jews to whom He’s speaking to go back to the most basic of knowledge of the LORD their God. The very first thing they ever learned as a child is that they should love Him with everything they are and everything they have.

v. 4b  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

He wants our hearts so much. I could give an exhaustive list of all the times the Word of God implores us to give Him our whole hearts and how He despises our “religious acts” if our hearts are not fully His. Oh, LORD God, forgive us. Forgive us for checking off boxes in our lists of what we can do for You, when we don’t really even think of You at all while we’re doing it. Oh Father, we repent.

Even now, let’s have the spiritual guts to examine our motives. Better yet, let’s have the spiritual guts to ask Him to circumcise our hearts completely and cut away every part that is impure. Father, test us and try us and see if there be any offensive ways in us, then lead us in The Way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24)

vv. 5-9 You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and tie shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

May He be the central theme of our lives. May His praise be on our lips continually (Psalm 34:1). May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in His sight (Psalm 19:14). May we be bold in our going out and in every word we speak (Acts 4:29). There are so many things we could say about these verses in Deuteronomy 6. Oh, LORD our God, help us. Make us creative and bold and obedient in the walking out of these commands.

vv. 10-12  And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob to give you – with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant – and when you eat and are full then take care lest you forget the LORD, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

He has a land in which to bring each one of us. There are lands where we will place our feet that He will give to us. Our boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places (Psalm 16:5-6) and He knows where each one is at (Acts 17:26).

Think about how many things God has done in our lives that we #1 – do NOT deserve and #2 – that we ourselves had nothing to do with it coming to pass. He is a Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children (Luke 11:13). Every single one of us enjoy the incomparable benefits of His love and His goodness, deserving none of it!

We get into so much trouble when we think we’re doing God favors or that He’s really lucky to have us on His side. We are deceived when we believe that our blessings come from our own good behavior. He is no respecter of persons. It is His grace alone. It is His magnificent grace that provides blessing and provision and victory. We are SO quick to forget Him when we rely on ourselves. We fill our bellies with so many things that we forget Him. It happened over and over again to the nation of Israel, do we think it won’t happen to us?

He ALONE has set us free from our past bondage. You and I were slaves to sin, we were in a ditch that we could not save ourselves from, and it was The Lord alone Who rescued us out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Oh Father, do not let us forget Your wonderful works! Father, expose our self-reliance and self-exaltation. Expose our reliance on anything other than You. Cause our minds to recognize Your hand of blessing and provision and victory so that we may praise Your Name!!! Crucify our flesh every time it rears its head, Lord Jesus! We have been crucified with You, help us remember it is no longer we who live but You who lives in us!!!

v. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear.

Amplified Bible: You shall fear [only] the Lord your God; and you shall serve Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] and swear [oaths] by His name [alone].

Father, rid us completely of the fear of man, it is a snare to us (Proverbs 29:25). Oh God, that we would recognize it in ourselves immediately. Holy Spirit shine light on our fear of anything but the LORD our God! Fear the LORD alone, oh my soul. Give us undivided hearts that we may fear Your Name (Psalm 86:11).

We want to serve You will awe-filled reverence and profound respect. In this world, we want Your Name to be known and ours to be forgotten. Lord Jesus, may Your Name alone be on the banner we wave.

Jesus quotes this same verse in Deuteronomy 6:13 to satan during His wilderness temptation (for the record I purposely do not capitalize the name of the enemy when I write it, it’s just a thing I do that symbolically keeps him in his un-exalted place.)

Luke 4:8 Jesus replied to him, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’”

Only You, Jesus. Only You. You are our Bridegroom coming for a bride who has made herself ready. Oh that You would find us pure and spotless, not giving our hearts to another.

vv.14-15  You shall not go after other gods the gods of the peoples who are around you – for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God – lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from off the face of the earth.

We are so foolish when we go after anyone or anything but God. Fearing Him is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

All else falls short.
All else is lacking.
All else is deception.

He alone is to be feared.
He alone worshiped.
He alone pursued.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He is an all-consuming fire. He is a jealous God. He will not stand for the love due Him to be showered elsewhere. He hates adultery. He alone is due our full affection. He alone is worthy of our whole hearts. His eyes search this entire planet searching, looking, seeking those of us who would bow our hearts completely to Him alone.

2 Chronicles 16:9a  NIV – For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

ESV – For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

NASB – For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

NLT – The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

 

It is our connection with Him and to Him that contains all the strength and the power we would ever need. He is the power source.  If I lack love, He is my source.  If I lack endurance, He is my source.  If I lack anything I need, I must connect with my Father in Heaven to receive it.

And if I want to connect to Him, I have got to look at Him. His eyes are searching THE ENTIRE WORLD, y’all. The whole thing!!! His eyes are looking and searching to and fro and and when He finds those of us who are looking back at Him!  Picture that in your mind for a moment.

See your eyes connecting with His.  Feel that intimacy.  Look into His eyes.

Listen to how John describes His eyes in Revelation 1:14 AMP

His [all-seeing] eyes were [flashing] like a flame of fire [piercing into my being].

His eyes are looking everywhere for the ones of His children who are looking for Him! And He is an all-consuming fire. His eyes pierce into my being. The flames of all-consuming fire in His eyes consume my entire being. Come on!!! My heart is about to jump out of my chest!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A million times, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT, LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s when it catches fire. That’s when we receive what we need. He knows where we need strength. We are weak, He is strong, oh how we need Him! He’s the source of all we need.

You know what just blows me away. He just wants our love. He just wants everything. Shouldn’t it just be simple to look honestly at our lives and see where we’re bowing to another? If we will crucify our flesh long enough and get the spiritual guts to ask Holy Spirit, He will show us where we are not returning to our first love. He will expose what is lukewarm in us. He is an all-consuming fire. If we are allowing His love to pierce our being, we WILL either heat up or we walk away, there is no other option.

Listen to Deuteronomy 4:23-24 AMP, just 2 chapters prior to what we’ve been studying in Deuteronomy 6:

So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].

Jesus Christ our Messiah purchased you & I when He hung on the tree and satisfied the wrath of God on our behalf. We are rightfully His. We are uniquely His. He can do with us exactly what He wants if we are willing. The question is, do we love Him with our whole hearts and do we trust Him?

Holy Spirit, right now, expose every area we attempt to hold back because we have created for ourselves an image in the form of anything which You have forbidden. Expose it now. We want our eyes looking fully into Your wonderful face. Make the things of earth dim to us as we seek You and find You! Oh Father, that we would seek You with ALL of our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13) !!!

This entire post started with a verse in Genesis 29 speaking of Jacob serving 7 years and it seeming as nothing to him because of Rachel, the one whom he loved. His eyes were on her. He knew that she was the territory destined to be his. He kept her in the forefront of his mind as he labored for Laban, even when he was cheated and done wrong, his heart was fully with the one he loved. And that made 7 long years seem as a few days.

What is your heart longing for?
What have you not seen happen that you believe God has said would come to pass?
Have you grown weary?
Is 7 years feeling like 700 years instead of a few days?
Where are your eyes?
What are you looking to?
Who are you trusting in?
Where are your eyes focused?
On what do you have your heart set?

Matthew 24:12-13  Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Sisters, we are in desperate need of divine endurance. We are surrounded by sin. We are surrounded by an enemy who seeks to destroy us and our testimonies and our families and our communities and our nation. We have seen the love of many grow cold, and even our own has grown lukewarm and cold at times. But, the one who endures to the end will be saved. We will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Our God is an all-consuming fire. Let Him pierce your heart today and ignite a fire that cannot be quenched.

Father, send enduring fire into our hearts. Consume us. Burn away every ounce of flesh and self that we have made into an idol which You forbid. Shake everything so that what cannot be shaken remains (Hebrews 12:27-28). Father, pluck out by the root every single thing in our hearts that You have not planted (Matthew 15:13). We are holy vessels. Oh that we would be useful. Oh that we would be ready.

2 Timothy 2:21-22  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things [which are dishonorable—disobedient, sinful], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart for a special purpose and], useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Run away from youthful lusts—pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those [believers] who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Consume us, Lord! Consume us with a holy passion for You! Set our hearts on fire! You are worthy and You are worth it!

Worship Him with this awesome song asking Him to set a fire down in our souls, asking Him for more.  Lord Jesus, we want more!  Oh that He would increase and we decrease…