Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. (Psalm 31:23-24)
When Messiah was asked by a scribe, “Which is the first commandment of all?” — which is to say, which of the commandments is first in priority — He answered, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’” (Mark 12:29-30). His response to the question was to quote the portion of Scripture known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This is the basic tenant of our faith: there is only One God and we are to love Him. And so in the verse above, David reiterates the fact that our first priority in life is to love God — it is commanded.
This point raises a question for us to consider. Seeing that love is an emotional response, how can it be forced by a command? In other words, it would seem that either you love someone or you don’t; it is in our heart or it is not. Couple this with the fact that, according to Messiah, evidence of our love for God is demonstrated by our willingness to keep His other commands — “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Seeing that is not just a matter of discipline but a matter of the heart, how do we keep this command?
Consider this: when someone knows they are the object of another’s affection, does it not provoke reciprocal feelings from the heart? If a person is the recipient of another’s unconditional care and concern, only the hardest of hearts would ignore such a demonstration of affection. It would be quite natural to have feelings of tenderness and love for them because we have observed their love for us.
If we can grasp this notion, maybe we should conclude that the proper way to keep the command to love God is to first consider His love for us. When we recount all the wonderful things He has done and is doing, on our behalf, it should strike a responsive chord in our hearts. It should provoke us to feel a genuine love for Him. Keep in mind that, throughout this psalm, David makes mention of the wonderful things that God has done — and that he believes He will do — for him.
When we consider His boundless love for us, demonstrated in the sacrifice Messiah made on our behalf, how can it not promote a sense of love and devotion within us? Lastly, when we continue to walk in the knowledge of His love for us, it will result in the confidence and courage to do all the other things He has commanded us to do. As David said, when we place our hope in Him, He will strengthen our hearts to be faithful to what He has called us to do.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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