Wholeheartedness

Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. (Numbers 14:20-24)

One generation of Israelites perished in the desert instead of crossing over to the Promised Land because of unbelief. In contrast, Joshua and Caleb inherited the wonderful promise. In singling Caleb out, God said one thing about him that struck me, "My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly."

Wholeheartedness. That is how the Bible describes Hezekiah too, and is the reason it gives for why he prospered.

This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. (2 Chronicles 31:20-21)

Wholeheartedness. That is God's condition for findng Him.

God promises 'Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart' (Jer. 29.13).

Andrew Murray says, "Prayerlessness cannot be overcome as an isolated thing. It is in the closest relationship to the state of the heart. True prayer depends on an undivided heart.

The good news as Murray puts it is that we cannot give ourselves the undivided heart that enables us to say 'I seek God with my whole heart.' No, that is impossible for us, but God will do it.

"However weak the desire may be, if there is but the sincere determination to strive after what God holds out to us, then he will himself work in our hearts both to will and to do. It is the great work of the Holy Spirit in us to make us willing and to enable us to seek God with the whole heart.

May there not be found in us confusion of face because, while we have given ourselves to so many earthly things with all our heart and strength, yet if anything is said about fellowship with our glorious God it so little affects us that we have not sought him with the whole heart."

Prayer today: Father God, I desire to have that undivided heart. I no longer want to lack focus, running after many things. I long to seek you with my whole heart. Help me O God, for I cannot will myself to this; only cause the Holy Spirit to awaken my spirit that I may pursue hard after thee. Amen.