141. The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

1 Kings 9:1  As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

1 Chronicles 28:9     “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

2 Chronicles 7:19-22    “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,  then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.  And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’  Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

2 Chronicles 15:2     and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Joshua 23:15-16     But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you,  if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

Eric Watkins; “Following God demands not only external obedience but also obedience of the heart. God alone is worthy of their love and worship. No other god had saved them; no other god could uphold them; and with no other god would the Shepherd of Israel share their affection and loyalty.”

“Sadly, simply stating and restating His expectations did not elicit the love and faithfulness God desired from Israel. In time, Israel’s heart, mirroring our own, longed for other gods and wandered from the commands of the covenant. God would have to do something radical, something invasive, something His people could not do for themselves in order to free them and us from the infidelity of our hearts.”

“As the Lord went before Israel, so Jesus went ahead of us, all the way to the cross. He showed us what it meant to have “no other god” before His Father in heaven, for Jesus not only obeyed the law of the Lord, He also loved the Lord His God with all His heart, soul, and might. His love and loyalty toward His heavenly Father were as unmistakable as His love and loyalty toward us. His love for His Father in heaven was displayed in the way He loved those whom His Father loved and in the way He gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.”

“As the old hymn says, our hearts are “prone to wander … prone to leave the God [we] love.” Day after day, we need to be reminded of God’s unfailing love for us in Christ. We also need to walk in newness of life in loving obedience toward God, by keeping Him first in our hearts. We are Christ’s church, and in Him we have been washed, redeemed, and loved. We love and obey His commands because, to paraphrase another hymn, “From heaven He came and sought us to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought us and for our life He died.”

We don’t commit to and serve God out of fear but rather because of who God is and the mercy, grace, and love extended to us through Jesus Christ.  When our eye’s lose sight for just a second of the sacrifice for Jesus made for our salvation and redemption the world is quick to fill our heart and mind with other gods and things to offer satisfaction of the flesh.  We expose our soul to unlimited paths away from the comforting arms of Jesus when our eyes are focused elsewhere.

Present yourself

“And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,”

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

Psalms 78:72  With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

Psalms 101:1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music.  I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;  I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.  A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.  Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.  I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.  No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.  Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

Isaiah 11:2    And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

In Psalm 101 David says he will ponder the way that is blameless, he will not set his eyes on anything worthless, and he will hate the work of those who fall away. Why does he want to choose to live this way?  Because of the place God has in His heart, mind, and soul.  If we choose to live this way we will need to have God’s wisdom, knowledge, discernment,  and understanding. To walk with God each day and desire and purpose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey is not something that comes easy to us.  Placing God first in all we do and think takes discipline and commitment.     Fighting the sinful nature of self purpose and choosing to replace it with God’s purpose will give meaning, hope, peace, love, joy, strength, power….. this side of eternity.