Captivated

“But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself.” – Psalm 4:3

When I read that passage of Scripture for the very first time, I felt like I was seeing God in a completely different way than I ever had. I felt a sudden, closer relation to Him than I ever had before, a certain understanding. God—the Creator of the most ferocious star, of the most beautiful flower, the deepest of canyons, the vastness of seas, and the immeasurable expanse of the universe . . . THIS God created it all and could have His choice of any of it for His own purpose and pleasure. But He didn’t want any of those things. His only reason to create every single one of those beautiful parts of nature was simply to amaze you. Why? Because He was achingly lonely for someone to love and to be loved in return. And so, the Lord in the Heaven of heavens which cannot contain Him, set His heart on the godly—and set them apart for Himself— the one thing He created for His pleasure.

BUT LOVE IS ONLY TRUE LOVE WHEN THERE IS CHOICE.

In the current day we live, many live in a delusion of misconstrued love. Today, the meaning of love is twisted into some form of conditional, mistrusting, and self-serving happiness. But God in His infinite wisdom, BEING love, defined love as selfless, serving, unwavering, and faithful. And this kind of love does not diminish when life happens—instead, it grows. In all of this, we are offered a choice. Not the choice to please ourselves, but the choice to be free to set our heart entirely on pleasing another. To treasure their existence and put their well-being above our own wants or needs. The choice to make them our priority. That’s true love. And this type of love has the most rewarding and greatest return!

Hebrews 11:5 tells us, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death . . . for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” What a reward! What a return! God was SO pleased with Enoch, that He set Him apart for Himself. He translated him so that Enoch did not even have to taste death, but was immediately enraptured into the presence of God. Yet, I am certain Enoch did not know that that was God’s plan for him. He didn’t seek the reward, or “what was in it for him” as a result of communing with God. He just sought to please God because he loved Him. He yearned to meet the desires of the heart of God.

We all know and love the Biblical figure, King David. Before he became king, we are informed in I Samuel 13 that the Lord was looking to end Saul’s prideful kingship, and that He was seeking a man after His own heart. This we know He found in David. Generations later, even through all of his humanly faults, God makes certain that everyone for every generation to come knows that He set apart David for Himself. His Spirit moved on the apostle Paul to write in Acts 13 that “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” David—a man who God Himself chose to be a part of the lineage of the long-awaited Messiah—God in flesh! That is reward. Yet, it was not a reward sought by David. For as the Bible clearly states, He was a man after God’s own heart.

THIS REMINDS ME OF A BEAUTIFUL SONG CALLED “WHEN THEY LOOK INTO MY EYES”:

They tell me, ‘You’ve got eyes exactly like your Father And the smile you wear reminds me of Him, too The way you talk, the things you say sound so familiar Why, you must be like Him in everything you do . . .’ . . . When they look into my eyes, do they see His love revealing? A place of hope where every broken heart finds healing Let me be the voice that knows the words to say But most of all reflect Your life in every way

I want to be so in love with God that when people look into my eyes, they don’t even see me—they see Him. One of my absolute favorite Scriptures describes it so perfectly this way: “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). I delight to know that I am doing His will. I want my heart to replicate God’s heart through and through. I want to love what He loves and hate what he hates. I want to please Him! Not for the reward of Heaven, but simply because I love Him!

I don’t want to just make God a priority; I want to make Him my LIFE. In this day and age where so many live for themselves, or practice religion without relationship—we can show them that true joy comes from knowing God and loving Him thoroughly. But more importantly, we can give God what He has long desired since the beginning of time. You and I have a quest, a mission: to captivate the heart of God.