Thou Shalt Love Jehovah Thy God with All Thy Heart

 

This word, which begins in Hebrew with “Shema,” that is, “Hear, O Israel,” is the word which Jesus later taught to be “the great and first commandment” in the law.

 

Matthew 22:35-38 “35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.”

 

Therefore, it is important that we love God with all our heart. The reason we must love God with our whole heart is that God desires to receive our whole and sincere heart. For this reason, David, in order to atone for his sin of taking the wife of Uriah, first sought to offer to God not a burnt offering, but his own broken spirit.

 

Psalm 51:16-17 “16 For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

 

Also, when David was old, he gave the following exhortation to his son Solomon.

 

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Jehovah searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”

 

Yes. As David said, because God searches our hearts and knows all the imaginations of our thoughts, we must love and serve God with a perfect heart. This is exactly why, when we come before God, we must not focus on outward appearances.

 

Isaiah 1:11-12 “11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?”

 

When God rejected Saul and chose David, the prophet Samuel saw Eliab among the sons of Jesse and was about to anoint him. At that time, God said the following to the prophet Samuel:

 

1 Samuel 16:6-7 “6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Jehovah’s anointed is before him. 7 But Jehovah said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for Jehovah seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart.”

 

Through this event also, we can clearly see that God is the One who looks at the heart rather than outward appearances.

 

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? 10 I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

 

As this passage says, man cannot know the deceitful heart of another person, but God searches and tests our mind and heart, and therefore He can know all things. Therefore, we ought to love, serve, and trust God “with all our heart.”

 

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “12 And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?”

 

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart¹, and lean not upon thine own understanding.”

[¹Trust: to believe firmly and depend upon; confidence and reliance.]

 

In the wilderness, God commanded Moses to select one leader from each tribe and have them spy out the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:1-20). However, except for Joshua and Caleb, the other men who spied out the land did not trust in the promise of God, but relied on what they saw with their own eyes (Numbers 13:25-33). And because the children of Israel believed and followed their words (Numbers 14:1-4), they ultimately all perished in the wilderness.

 

Numbers 14:22-24 “22 because all those men that have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23 surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: 24 but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”

 

Therefore, we must trust not in our own understanding, but in God alone, with all our heart. This is the only way for all things to go well with us.

 

Deuteronomy 11:13-21 “13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you. 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 21 that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.”

 

Truly, when we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, God will also love us, allow Himself to be found by us, and grant us peace.

 

Proverbs 8:17 “I love them that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me.”

 

2 Chronicles 15:13-15 “13 and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. 15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about.”

 

Amen.