One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. Psalms 27:4.
PHILIPPE VAL, a French journalist and writer, the author of the book, Dictionnaire philisophique d’une monde sans Dieu (Dictionary of the philosophy of the world without God) in a recent televised interview says that ‘it is a work not to believe’ – no God, no faith.
I will say that man’s foundation and origin was of God, ever before the Creator made or formed him from the dust of the earth (Lord, thou has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou has formed the earth and the world… Psalms 90:1-2), therefore, it is no surprise to see mortals seeking for something to worship, but what kind of worship, and to which God or god (s) is the question to be asked? We are the offspring of God (Acts 17:27-28), created in his image for the sole purpose of relationship – intimacy, worship and fellowship which was broken by Satan’s influence between God and the first parents – Adam and Eve. Thus, the cord of union between God and man was broken in the transgression, and was replaced with the cord of sin which locks and bond man to Satan, as it is written, the sinner shall be ensnared by his own sin, and the cord of his sin will hold him fast. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Proverbs 5: 22-23.
There is a divine vacuum in humans that nothing or anyone else than God can fill up to satisfy. Moreover, there is a divine yearning for God as the result of the breath of life he releases into us at creation, better say which God breathed into man’s nostril to become a living soul. If you will not seek to find God by grace through faith in Christ Jesus for whatever reason, the spiritual yearning and the void in your life might never be satisfied or filled up while you live till you die, and then shall the spirit- breath goes back to God. Psalms 104:29.
It’s a pity to see men engaging themselves in material, carnal and temporal things for satisfaction which God only will give, thus are things made becomes their god while searching for God in their quest to fill up their spiritual emptiness as King Solomon once proved many things (more money, more wives, more wine, more cars, more vineyards, more enjoyments, more houses, more servants, and more of everything) to fill up the spiritual void in his life (what he thinks can satisfy on earth), but he found all to be vanity and vexation of spirit, which are likely possible to take the heart away from God, and eternity away from man, even as Solomon lost ten tribes out of twelve because of those ungodly desires, lifestyle and attitudes before God.
Let’s talk about the author of our above scripture text which was King David of which some folks assume that he was a man after the heart of God because of his love for music – songs of praises and art of worship. Yes, God loves to dwell in the midst of the praises of his people, but David himself first remind us of the holiness of God (but thou art holy, O thou that inhabit the praises of Israel. Psalms 22:3), though he dwells in the midst of the praise of his people.
Draw near unto God, and he will draw near unto you. Surely, God seeks for our relationship with him, but can two walk together except they are agreed? Amos 3:3. With relationship comes responsibility, but if our lifestyle does not reflect in our relationship with him, or our relationship with God is not reflecting in our lifestyle, he will reject and condemn the sacrifices of praise which are offered from simulated and insincere lips of an ungodly lifestyle- unclean and unsanctified vessel in the same manner by which he rejected and expelled Satan who was formerly his chief musician in heaven when iniquity was found in him – I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:21-24. Note: spiritual music and songs of praises should not be used as a form of a bribe in unrighteousness and ungodliness to appease God; than the broken spirit of a godly sorrow with the fruit worthy of repentance which he required and is acceptable before him – should a man mocked God?
David was a man after God’s own heart because of his bond and relationship and devotion before God, apart from the spiritual oblation to glorify God in the song and dance. Psalms 149:3. If there is no true bond and relationship with God, there can be no true affection to bring us into true devotion or fellowship, thus the heart is far from God while the mouth honors him – hypocrisy of the Pharisees. You can bring people into your life to help them to have a relationship and bond with God, but if you allow those with no genuine relationship or bond with God to stay in your life, they will likely diminish, or altogether destroy your relationship and bond with him (a) like the mixed multitudes caused the children of Israel to sin, and some were destroyed in the wilderness because of the Egyptians which went out with them to fellowship with the God of Isreal with no genuine relationship or bond with him: (b) like Solomon married strange women who has no bond with God, and his relationship with God was badly damaged. 2 Timothy 2:22.
Do you have a bond, – a relationship with God? They shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty. The principles and conditions of a good and healthy bond and relationship with God are defines throughout the scriptures. It is a great spiritual deal to be truly bonding with him because of his transforming work in your inner man, and for the outward fruits of righteousness which are the effects of such bond and relationship with him. Those who are truly bonding with God are practically humble – lowly in heart, and meek, walking in the true righteousness and holiness in order to please God throughout their pilgrim journey.
They manifest increasing godliness because they exercise themselves in godliness for God’s divine power is working mightily in them to manifest divine nature – godliness, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lusts. Note: if praise and worship could not keep Satan in heaven without holiness, until iniquity was found in him, neither should anyone fantasize heaven, though they are offering praises and worship unto God with the voice of angel, but not in an holy vessel, but in a vessel of dishonor – sanctify therefore yourself in holiness unto God, by cleansing yourself from all the filthiness of the flesh, and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
God describes what it is to be a man after his heart by saying, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. He did not say because David has written lots of psalms, and has danced before me in humility, and has composed lots of songs of praises unto me, therefore, he is a man after my own heart, – no. Acts13:22.
David was found to be exactly what God said about him (David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.1 Kings 15:5) until he erroneously removed his eyes away from the eye of divine guidance (Psalms 32:8-9) at the time when the kings went to war, he chose to stay at home, and the Devil seized the opportunity and advantage of his unofficial – false leisure to devour him through the sin of adultery – woe unto them those at ease in Zion. Amos 6:1.
God, by providential occurrence brought David into the limelight. Though, everyone was in doubt of the ability of the ruddy boy to fight and win a battle (1 Samuel 17:42), but David boldly rehearsed God’s faithfulness and power in his life through personal experiences before King Saul (1 Samuel. 17:37), and he preached and spoke about Jehovah the mighty man of war to the enemy – Goliath, and by faith, he made declaration of the outcome of the battle before the entire assembly. 1 Samuel 17:45-47. What a great evangelism he had before the fight? What a great victory and celebration of David after the battle?
David found God while he was alone in the wilderness tending the flock, but he laboriously nourished the bond and grow the relationship through constant mediation in the word of God every day and night, and by morning, afternoon, evening and midnight prayers to be rooted and grounded in the love of God, and in the faith of him as a lonely young shepherd boy in the field. Psalms 55:17. Psalms 119:148.
Though, David was the youngest of the eight sons of his father – Jesse, yet his father judged it right to send and leave him all by himself in the shepherd’s field where the lions and bears could be found – this, our father Jacob will not do with his Benjamin – this, our God will not do with those that have little strength, for as man is, so is his strength. Judges 8:21. Nonetheless, David found his strength, power and defense in God. Note: because there is a cause – reason for any and every embarrassing situation or experience which should work out patience in us, it is of vital importance that we see God in any and every undeserving demeaning treatment from others, the demeaning position we are put in to occupy, the demeaning situation we are under, the demeaning responsibility we are given, or the demeaning experiences we are going through as we cleave to God and commit our cause to him who will right the wronged – the helper of the helpless. 1Samuel.16:11-12.
Those who are having fellowship or serving without bond in relationship with God will take him for granted, live and acts contrary before him because they don’t know the manner and ways of this great, mighty and terrible God who is able to kill and to make alive. By them the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, they will cause offences in the church with continuous gross misconducts, for evil men and seducers shall was worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 2 Kings 17:25-28. 2 Timothy 3:13.
Relationship with God should not be taken for granted (hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, o children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Amos 3:1-2) as great responsibility is on them who are called by his name to sanctify him in their lives, ways and in every situation, lest they should misrepresent him with consequence to bear (a) Moses for his sin of anger to smite the Rock, and was denied entrance into the Promised Land: (b) David in his sin against Uriah, the fruit of his sin- son died, and war never depart from his house as the curse from God.
David repeatedly made his profound request and desire known before God, showing his deepest appreciation for the grace and access to fellowship in the relationship with God; Lord, have I loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your honor dwells (Psalms 26:8): in addition, he sworn or vowed to dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Psalms 23:6: (b) David owned to his responsibility to walk and live in the consciousness of the holiness of God who has a purer eye than to behold iniquity – I have kept myself from my sin; I was pure in his sight. Psalms 18:23: (c) furthermore, he made known of his humble ambition for the house of his God (I rather be a door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of the wicked, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (Psalms 84:10) as one the reasons he was a man after the heart of God who dwells on high, but he takes note of the humble – to lift them up, but he knows the proud from a distance – to humble or bring them down. Psalms 138:6.
The scripture caution us not to tread the Son of God under the feet, nor to count the unblemished blood that sanctifies us as an unholy thing (Hebrews 10:26-30), not to play or mock at sin as a fool will do (Proverbs 14:9), for God will judge his people; rather, he enjoins us to place a great value on the precious blood of Christ by which we were cleansed, forgiven and saved by God into the fellowship with his Son; to refrain our feet from every evil way that we might keep his word (Psalms 119:101), for you are bought with a price. 1 Cor.6:18-20.
What is the worth or value and estimation of God’s relationship in your life? Adam failed because he considered that the bond with his wife should not be broken, though she lured her against God’s will, so he chose to dance alongside her song of rebellion against God’s will and word, but his excuse was unacceptable before God – the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. It is better to lose a marital bond than to lose divine bond if the former is standing and warring against your soul and the will of God. Consider Lot, though his wife chose to disobey, he kept to the instruction to never look back, and was not destroyed with his wife who was turned to a pillar of salt.
Your bond and relationship with God should dictate what you do, and what you say, and where you go. Those with good and healthy relationship with God don’t speak anyhow, neither do they behave unseemly as strange children. Your bond and the state of your relationship with God should be more important to you than your bond and the state of your relationship with any person in your life, because that bond, if well and faithfully kept, can help them a million ways.
God is immeasurable and your worth in him as the apple of his eye him because of what Christ has done for you is unquantifiable for no amount of money can redeem your soul from eternal death; therefore, your bond and relationship with God should be above anything, for all things are for him, – nothing should be too great, too good, or too precious and too pleasing or satisfying to you that you cannot let go for God’s sake if he ask for such sacrifice – consider Abraham in the test for Isaac, willing to let Isaac go, but not to let go his God by distrust and disobedient, accounting that he is able to raise his son back to life, and was justified – think about the disciples of Christ when they exclaimed, Lord we have forsaken all to follow you! Think about certain believers from the early church who sold their houses and lands to ensure the continuation of the work of God, providing for others need.
It is up to you to cleave – to stay very close to God in an increasing devotedness for spiritual growth, lest Satan should take advantage of you as he once did in the Garden of Eden. God has called us, first to relationship which is family bond, then to fellowship; not only to fellowship, lest you worship what you did not know.
When Adam breaks the bond, the fellowship was never the same again until the second Adam – Christ came into the world to bring us back to God. 1 Peter 2:25. The value or worth of your bond and relationship with God will rule in your management, bond and relationship with money, how you will overcome its negative influence and power, – on what, and how you spend it – you can’t serve God and mammon, consider the deception of Ananias with Sapphira his wife before the church because of money, and how they died prematurely as the result – you cannot serve and God and mammon. The value or worth of your bond and relationship with God will regulate your bond and relationship with food, – for the sake of food, do not destroy the work of God, – the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Your value or worth of your bond and relationship with God will decide your desire for unlawful sex, – consider Joseph at Portiphar’s house in Egypt, when his master’s wife made several sexual advances on him, and he says, how can I commit this great wickedness before God? The value or worth of your bond and relationship with God will shape your godly lifestyle against the worldly and ungodly pleasure of sin, – by considering Moses at the palace of Pharaoh, when he come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing to rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasure in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of reward. The value or worth of your bond and relationship with God will regulate how you value your time, either for work, or for leisure, by considering that Christ by the well of Jacob, made response to his disciples that his meat and drink is to do the work of him that sent him while it is day, for the night comes, when no man can work again, – and to consider the failure of the young prophet sent to Bethel, but was killed as punishment by a lion sent from God for ignoring the warning against wrong relaxation or leisure not to eat or drink at the place of his assignment. The value or worth you placed on your bond and relationship with God will control your dressing or clothing to please him, – considering the daughters of Zion who were condemned for their wrong and strange clothing and dressing. The value or worth you placed on your relationship with God will influence your pursuit and interest in the world, – considering Demas, having loved the present world, departed from Apostle Paul’s company.
Christ was the instruction and the word which was given and meant to keep Adam and Eve spiritually alive in their bond and relationship with God in the Garden, but they despised it, and they died spiritually. Now, Jesus Christ is the same life giving cord between us and God, but the durability of the cord depend on your obedience to Christ – my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27-28.
Adam and Eve, instead of listening to the voice of God chose otherwise to obey Satan’s voice, and they break the bond between them and God for Satan to take them away, even so shall anyone who will not keep themselves in the love of God through obedience to Christ voice will make themselves as a worker of iniquity, meant to be disown and rejected by the Lord at the end.
Any moment of opportunity to fellowship alone with God, or to gather with others before him should be appreciated and be well spent. As soon as the uninvited Mary Magdalene (out of whom went out seven demons) found her Lord and Savior at Simeon’s house, she never let her eyes off the Lord anymore as she grow in the bond of divine relationship thorough constant fellowship and feeding from the bread of life – Christ. Once she found her pardon at the feet of Christ – signifying humility, broken spirit, and a contrite heart (Luke 7:37-48), she kept the bond and fellowship growing at the feet of her Lord (Luke 10:39), but the esteemed worth or value of her Lord surpasses the price of her very costly perfumed which she generously spent on Christ as she bent down and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair to prepare the body of Christ against his death and burial. John 12:3-7. Her sole request before the Lord has been, draw me, I will run after thee: the king has brought me into his chambers: I will be glad and rejoice in you, and her resolution was, I will remember your love more than wine: the upright love thee. Song of Solomon1:4.
Like Anna the prophetess never left the temple after the death of her husband of seven years of marriage at the age of eighty four in order to serve God day and night with prayer and fasting, one thing is common with anyone having a strong bond with God, namely, they are always in fellowship and in the rest of God as David says, I will abide in your tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covert of your wings (Psalms 61:4); or better to see them through the picture of the disciple whom Christ loved, who put or lay his head on Christ bosom, signifying deep spiritual bonding, closeness, attachment, fondness, trust and dependence. This is the fruit of their bond in fellowship, and of their trust in whom they live, move and have their being. This is the first promise of Christ unto anyone who is laboring and heavy laden, but will come to seek first, for relationship with the Father through him – I will give you rest.
It pertains with the enemy of our soul to seek to ensnare, or to distract us away from the Lord. Is he not a thief who is seeking to snatch away another’s bride? Are we not called to be vigilant against the adversary who is roaming about, seeking whom to devour? Except we resolutely cleave to the Lord in our union with him, we are in the danger of taken an offense (s) in Christ, – we are in the danger of taking false steps and making wrong decisions with false judgments and opinions, – likely to be out of balance and out of blue to the enemy’s sudden strike to take us out of the way.
Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually. 1 Chronicles 16:11. The healthy state of our inner man decides the prosperity of our soul, but the former depend on how we are keeping and nourishing our union or bond with God -beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers. 3 John 1:2. If the soul is poor and spiritually dead (unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; these things says he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know your works, that you have a name that you lives, but you are dead. Revelation 3:1), though the outward man is rich, glittering, strong and energetic, but of what profit is it for a man to gain the whole world, but loses his soul?
Except we abide in Christ, applying the principles of walking in him (1 John 2:6), the spiritual bond with God is unlikely to grow stronger, and the believer’s discovery, understanding and fruitfulness in all the will of God is uncertain. Such are in a danger and condemnation of an unfulfilled calling in their spiritual life, – not to be counted worthy of his calling. 1Peter 4:6.
While some people’s heart in the kingdom of God is partly stolen by the devil, divided between the world, flesh and sin, but those who are bonded to God in relationship have their heart fixed, daily crucifying the flesh, and the world, including the sin in the body to the cross: just as David say, my soul follows hard after thee, your right hand holds me up (Psalms 63:8): nothing else count as they continue to work laboriously, striving against sin through their conformation to the death of Christ, so that the life of Christ should be made manifested in their mortal body; that at the end, they might see him as he is, and to become exactly as he is in their glorification together with him.
How can you cleave or bond to the Lord and not be led by him? For this God is our God, forever and ever. He will be our guide, even unto death. Psalms 48:14. If God is not your guide, he is not your God. Is it not written that as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God? Rom. 8:14. How can you cleave to the Lord and be influenced, or be snatched and be taken away by the present world, or by Satan from him? For those who are truly bonding to God will walk with him and go wherever the Lamb will lead them until death or rapture of the saints (behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep –die, but we shall all be changed. 1 Cor. 15:51-52) as Enoch once walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him.