Dear Brethren and Friends,
Greetings from San Diego! As we approach the Passover, it is important that we all try to draw closer to God in every way.
God is our Father. The Son of God is our Savior—our Lord, High Priest and coming King. We can never in a billion years even hope to begin to repay God for the gift of life, for being made in His image and for the beauty and harmony of the marvelous creation around us. How thankful we in God’s Church should be for His special calling—for His wonderful inspired Word to enlighten, teach, and inspire us, and for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us.
If we can begin to grasp the magnificent opportunities God is giving to those of us who are called now, a “wave” of thankfulness and worship should sweep over our hearts and minds. For we have the privilege of really “knowing” the “High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15). If we are led by His Spirit, we can rightly call Him “Father.” For He is our Father who has called us, who has granted us understanding and repentance, who has given us His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and who has given us of the very thing that makes Him GOD—His precious Holy Spirit, His very nature and character.
As the literal Greek reads in Philippians 2:5–8: “Jesus Christ, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED Himself, taking the form of a servant, being found in the likeness of men” (RSV). Then Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” And now Jesus is our “merciful and faithful High Priest” (Hebrews 2:17).
Without question, the depth of love, concern and compassion God and Christ have for us is beyond our full comprehension at this time. Yet, as Passover approaches, it is appropriate that we focus on the depth of God’s love and take the Passover with deep feeling, reverence and humility. Even though it is often misused and misunderstood in this deceived world, the so-called “golden verse” of the Bible should resonate powerfully in our minds: “For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
God is the one who first loves and who first gives. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We, as God’s children, must “feed” on such passages as 1 John 4:8–11: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
All through the year we will be blessed if we focus on the love, the appreciation and the worship we should express to God. Many qualities made King David a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). But one of the most endearing qualities must have been David’s profound sense of appreciation for God—for His greatness, His everlasting love and His mercy. This deep feeling of worship and ADORATION resonates through literally dozens of the Psalms that David wrote.
Notice Psalm 18:1–3: “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.”
In a sense, David had a spiritual “love affair” with GOD—actually with the “Rock” of Israel, the One who became Jesus Christ. When David was in need of anything, he quickly turned to God—even in the middle of the night: “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:7–8).
Brethren, David had a PASSION for God in a way very few of us today even approach! When you read of David’s life and then read his Psalms carefully, you begin to realize that God was the very center of David’s life and thoughts. God was his dear Friend, his Help, his Comforter and his Deliverer. Some of this deep feeling is expressed in Psalm 40:13–17: “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, who say to me, ‘Aha, aha!’ Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified!’ But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.”
Also, though possibly written by one of “the sons of Korah,” this fervent yearning for God is well expressed in Psalm 42:1–3: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’”
Brethren, let us each make sure that our soul “thirsts” for God—that we seek Him daily in fervent prayer and Bible study, and that He is the very center of our thoughts, our hopes and dreams and our lives. Let us in the Spirit-led Church of God each POUR OUT OUR BEING in “seeking” God, walking with God and worshipping and adoring our Father and our Redeemer! For what is the first and great Commandment? Matthew 22:35–38 gives the answer: “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ‘This is the first and great commandment.’”
The example of David’s zeal and PASSION in worshipping and exalting God can give us special insight into how we ought to fulfill this Great Commandment. As New Testament Christians, this attitude of worship and adoration and profound appreciation ought to be with us in a special way as we partake of the symbols of the ultimate sacrifice made by our Creator, our King, our merciful High Priest, our Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ.
Every day of the year, we should remember God’s instruction to the Jewish captives as they returned from exile: “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with ALL your heart” (Jeremiah 29:12–13). Dear brethren, we are chosen servants of the living God at the END of this age. Let us always remember that fact and SEEK God and His will with every fiber of our being!
