THE COST FACTOR
“Doing Your will, My God, is my joy; Your Word is in my inmost being.” Ps. 40:9
Pursuing God single-mindedly with all one’s heart is a rare commodity that most people view as spectators rather than participators. In the above Scripture, we glimpse the heart of David whose overwhelming and wholehearted love caught the attention of God in a manner unparalleled in Scripture.
Pursuing God steadfastly is not a quaint sentiment but a noble endeavour. Some people serve Him for public acclaim or the applause of men. But, living in close fellowship with God was David’s overriding desire and joy. Even when he fell from grace, he refused to allow anything to prevent him clawing his way back into fellowship and favour.
God seeks to transform us from spiritual paupers to live in close unbroken fellowship with Him, something that infinitely exceeds anything this world can offer. May we experience a deeper measure of His overflowing presence in our lives!
I want to share something very sad. Our sages tell us that only one-fifth of the Israelites left Egypt for they preferred to remain in the realm of enslavement because it seemed a ‘safer’ thing to do than launch out into the unknown. So too, after the abolition of slavery in America when the black people became ‘free’, many wanted to go right back to being a slave.
The Kingdom of Heaven is full of risk taking because God has called us to walk by faith not by sight. As Scripture states, “The just shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:17) Notwithstanding, when we take the narrow path hand in hand with our Maker, we begin to understand that the very best the world can ever offer is merely a faint glimmer compared to what awaits us in the life to come.
Raphael ben Levi
