What Is Wholeheartedness?

I’m starting with a review of the kings of Judah after the division of the nation following Solomon’s reign. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam reigned (poorly) for a few years. Then Rehoboam’s son, Abijam, “ruled three years in Jerusalem and he committed all the sins his father had committed before him; he was not wholehearted with Adonai his God, as David his forefather had been” (1 Kings 15:2-3, CJB). After Abijam, his son, Asa, ruled in Judah (verses 8-24). It is said of Asa: “But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted with Adonai throughout his life” (verse 14).

So, if you haven’t guessed by the italicized word, my focus today is on what made Asa wholehearted, while Abijam was not. They both were not perfect. They both behaved poorly and different than God had instructed in His Torah. What was the difference? Why was one deemed wholehearted and one was not?

The answer, I found out from my study, is really quite simple, yet so hard to determine in our culture today. Humans will sin. Abijam sinned by keeping the idol worship in place as his father, Rehoboam, had instituted it in Judah. He encouraged the people to worship gods other than Adonai. He did whatever he could to build himself up, even if that meant worshiping other gods at “high places” other than the Temple in Jerusalem.

Asa also sinned. He failed to remove the “high places” scattered all over Judah. He also failed to turn to Adonai at a time when they were under attack from a neighboring nation. Early in his reign, he did turn to God and God provided a miraculous victory. He, however, failed to recall that incident, and therefore failed to trust God again.

Human failings. Sins. Not going all the way in pursuing God. Yet Scripture says one was wholehearted as David was, and the other was not. Again, what makes a person wholehearted in God’s perspective? Remember, David is also called wholehearted, and yet he committed sexual immorality and murder. I focused on four aspects of what it means to be wholehearted to God.

·      We must refrain from ever worshiping other gods.

·      We must have a fierce and exclusive loyalty to the one true God.

·      We must never be an idolater or give approval of idolatry.

·      We must remain Torah compliant in regards to our worship of God.

Some of those overlap a bit and the last one, remaining Torah compliant, can be a large task. Fortunately, since the day of Christ, we can exercise our wholeheartedness in having a fierce and faithful loyalty to Christ. Trusting Jesus and believing in His humanity and His deity is being wholehearted.

This does present a series of problems with many mainline Christian communities (and even to those who say they are compliant with Scripture to some degree). Are we, like Judah in Asa’s time, mixing pagan worship or manmade traditions with our attempts to worship Adonai? Do we construct our own ideas of who God is and what He’s like? I’m not going to answer those questions. I’m not even going to point out times and places we do behave in that manner. Each of us needs to educate ourselves about what activities we have adapted that began as pagan rituals. We need to study the Scriptures as thoroughly as possible to determine exactly what God has ordained. I want to be seen as wholehearted before the Lord so I will examine my beliefs and actions carefully.

Prestige or Obedience

Oh the grandeur of the Temple Solomon was having built! Cedar timbers from Lebanon. Stones hewn in a quarry away from the actual site so iron tools would not defile the Temple site. Gold plated everything. Cherubim seventeen feet high and wide (all plated in gold).

Who was Solomon trying to impress? God was not interested in the show. He was not impressed. In the middle of the account of the features of the Temple, God interrupts Solomon’s seeking after the best and grandest possible construction materials and the most expert craftsmen. He tries to remind Solomon of his responsibilities as the king of Israel.

¹¹ Then this word of Adonai came to Shlomo (Solomon): ¹² “Concerning this house which you are building: if you will live according to my regulations, follow my rulings and observe all my mitzvot [commands] and live by them, then I will establish with you my promise that I made to David your father — ¹³ I will live in it among the people of Isra’el, and I will not abandon my people Isra’el” (1 Kings 6:11-13, CJB).

Unfortunately Solomon did not get the message God intended and continued to focus all his attention, energy, and power on building something grand. For what purpose? God was content to have the tent tabernacle as He had from the time of Moses on Mt. Sinai. As a matter of fact, God told David exactly this in 2 Samuel 7:1-7. See what God told David in verses 6 and 7 say,

⁶ Since the day I brought the people of Isra’el out of Egypt until today, I never lived in a house; rather, I traveled in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷ Everywhere I traveled with all the people of Isra’el, did I ever speak a word to any of the tribes of Isra’el, whom I ordered to shepherd my people Isra’el, asking, “Why haven’t you built me a cedar-wood house?”’

God had not asked for a majestic place to reside. In reality, just as now, God didn’t actually dwell in the Temple anyway. His place is in heaven and He is anywhere He wants to be (and that’s everywhere, all the time).

God’s interruption in Solomon’s building project was God’s attempt to get Solomon back on track with what God does require: to live according to His commands and regulations.

God is asking the same from us. He’s not looking to see who has the biggest or best decked out church (or synagogue). He’s not looking to see who gets the most followers on their social media pages. He’s not impressed by our fame or wealth. He’s not interested in how many people go to a specific church. He’s not joyful over big giving checks. He doesn’t care how many mission trips we volunteered for. He’s not even counting the number of times we appear in church each week or each month. He’s not concerned with any of the things we think are proofs of how holy we are. All those things are folly.

God desires us to be obeying His Word. He desires (and has modeled and commanded) humility. He’s not going to reward us for our deeds as a bargaining chip for heaven. He only cares about the conditions of our hearts based on salvation in Christ and how we love our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:14).

It’s time for me to examine my motives and my humility. Am I relying on God or on my own works to be acceptable to God? What about you?

A Decline Begins

After David’s reign on the throne, Israel was doing pretty good. Solomon, who replaced David when Solomon was in young adulthood (age estimates range from 12 by rabbis to 20 by other theologians), furthered the influence of Israel on the region of the Middle East. Solomon strengthened Israel’s position in the world by forming strong alliances with the surrounding nations. He did this by marrying the daughters of the leaders of the other nations.

1 Kings 3 starts by telling us Solomon married the Pharaoh of Egypt’s daughter. While the marriage didn’t violate the commandments (the Israelites were prohibited only from marrying Canaanites), the new wife was supposed to give up her foreign gods and submit to the God of Israel. That rarely happened and so Israel became polluted by many false idols. Throughout the history of Israel going forth, this became a problem for the nation that was supposed to worship the One and Only True God.

We have an account of Solomon’s spiritual condition in 1 Kings 3:3:

Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places (NASB).

The CJB says,

Shlomo [Solomon] loved ADONAI, living according to the regulations set forth by David his father; nevertheless, he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.

Sounds righteous at first glance. The key words, however, are “except” (NASB) and “nevertheless” (CJB). On one side the verse sets out Solomon’s love for the Lord (and following David’s practices, although we know David had some pretty funny ideas of what it meant to follow God’s instructions). After the key words, it seems as if Solomon was doing something wrong – sacrificing and making offerings on the high places. I added the emphasis for a reason.

The Hebrew word for “high places” is bamah. This word is used to describe many religious sites. The people of the Middle East fully believed that gods (including God) lived on mountaintops and so altars and places to perform said sacrifices to whatever god was being honored existed on many places of high ground throughout Israel. In addition, many of these sites had hired private priests carrying out the sacrifices. They carried out rituals and ceremonies, which made the people think they were getting right with God.

Do you see anything wrong with this? God had laid out some very specific regulations regarding worshiping Him. First, the only temple that meant anything was the one where the Ark of the Covenant was located (which at this time was in Jerusalem). And second, God gave clear instructions that only Levites (people descended from the tribe of Levi) could be legitimate priests.

I fear our world is becoming like Israel. Solomon and Israel’s decline began at this point – man-made showy actions that supposedly made the observers right with God. Today there is a decline in the spiritual condition throughout the world, as people practice and observe religious activities that fit their own ideas of God, not adhering to either the Old Testament commands or the instructions and examples of the New Testament church. Going through certain motions does not make a person right with God. There are people today who call themselves Christians but if asked, “Why are you a Christian?” have no idea what salvation and redemption means. They are being indoctrinated into practices and habits and nice sounding words that are giving them a false sense of being right with God.

My question? Where do you fall? Do you know what salvation and redemption are all about? Or are you a cultural Christian going to church, espousing the things others have told you, and acting like you think a Christian should act? There is condemnation for those types of people recorded in the Scriptures. There are several places where Jesus says there are people who will have eaten with Him and followed Him around, but when the times comes they will ask for admittance into heaven, and the Master will say, “I do not know where you are from” (Luke 13:23-27 is one example).

Where are you from?

More Than a Resident Alien

We start looking at 2 Samuel today. At the end of 1 Samuel, Saul and Jonathan die. Saul had been the king of Israel (although God had revoked His blessings from him some time ago). In the first chapter of 2 Samuel, we have the account of David being told of Saul’s death. The man who told David was rather unscrupulous in a number of ways, but I’m just going to focus on one aspect of this man.

The man, when asked who he was, told David he was a “ger.” This Hebrew word is usually translated as “resident alien.” In the Complete Jewish Bible, he answers David’s question by saying, “I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an Amaleki” (verse 13). This is significant, even to New Testament believers. The concept of a resident alien explains a key New Testament passage to me in a whole new way.

A “resident alien” in David’s time was a person who lived and served a nation (Israel in this case) but was not a native born or a naturalized citizen. He retained his ethnic and national identity. This man was an Amalekite. He served as part of Saul’s army and had been living among the Israelites, but he did not identify himself as being an Israelite. You might think, “Well, of course, he wasn’t an Israelite! He was of another nationality.” Yet, there were many people born elsewhere, from different nationalities that were totally assimilated into the people of Israel. They took on the belief in the God of the Israelites. They followed all the laws of an Israelite. And they became an Israelite in every sense of the word. God had provided for such people and gave specific instructions in the law for how such people were to be treated (Deuteronomy 10:18-19).

The man who reported Saul’s death to David still identified himself as a Amalekite, a resident alien, a ger. The significance for us can be found in Ephesians 2:10-19:

                   For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua [Jesus] for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do. Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.

                  But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. For he himself is our shalom [peace] — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah [barrier] which divided us by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.

                  Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby (Isaiah 57:19), news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

                  So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.

All that to say we are not like that Amalekite. We, as believers in Jesus, are fully assimilated into God’s family. We are not ger. And we should believe in the God of Israel in every way.

God is Righteous and Just

Today in my time in God’s Word, I was presented with the righteousness and justice of God. Let’s not succumb to the idea that because God is love He is only forgiving. He does those things: loving and forgiving. However, He is also jealous and holy.

This is a hard subject to broach in today’s Christian churches. We focus on His salvation and love and caring spirit to attract others to the hope of salvation. However, if we leave out the part about separation and disobedience, what is there to be saved from? Let’s not be fooled into thinking that saying we believe in Jesus is enough. Even the demons believe in Jesus. Let’s not be fooled into thinking that God will save us and provide everything we want, just because we profess Him as Lord.

His plans are unsearchable to us. What we want may have nothing to do with His plans. As I discussed last week, our prayers need to be in line with His will. Our behavior also has to be in line with His will. His will is that we are intimate with Him. Not just saying the right things and sounding good, but truly knowing Him and serving Him. This doesn’t just happen because we prayed some prayer (although that’s a good start). Knowing Him means communicating with Him. Two-way communication. It’s not just praying to Him. And it’s not just reading His Word and listening for His Holy Spirit’s guidance. Both of those behaviors are essential for really getting to know Him.

Part of knowing Him is realizing that He’s a jealous God. He wants nothing or no one to come before Him in our lives. He does discipline those who fail to make Him the priority of their lives. I’m not just talking about those who are not Christians. He disciplines each and every one of us – possibly especially those who say they follow Him – when we don’t make Him the priority in our lives. The discipline can be harsh. In Old Testament times it meant He pruned away some of those He called His own. His character does not change. He will also prune away some of those that He now considers His own in faith. He does what is best for His plan.

I don’t pretend to understand exactly what He’s thinking. I just know He’s not easily fooled by good sounding words or self-serving service. We can volunteer at church, pray publicly in restaurants. We can proclaim Him to others, sound like we know the way. We can read His Word and study the commentators. We can be teaching Christ to our families, sharing Him with our friends. Yet we can still place other things before Him, and He will know. He is a jealous God! We need to examine our hearts and minds. We need to be doing all these things for His glory. We need to have no other “gods” before Him. He is righteous and a just judge. He will not be fooled by our thoughts, feelings, actions, or minds. He will discipline, even to the point of death, any who put other things ahead of Him.

Interpreting Prophecies

I’m continuing to go through the Book of Daniel. Chapter 8 is a recounting of a vision Daniel had about the future. He tells us the vision (in writing only) and then tells us he didn’t understand it. He asked, still in his vision, for help in interpreting it and God sent a “holy one” (identified as Gabriel) to give Daniel an understanding of the vision (vs. 16).

However, once Gabriel was done, Daniel still could not comprehend what the vision was about. Gabriel did tell him, “I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end (vs. 19).” However, we see at the end of the chapter that Daniel was still confused: “Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.” God had given Daniel all the knowledge he was going to get about the end of time.

I believe that’s what God has done for us. We have the Scriptures and some interpretation, but we still cannot be sure what the end of times will look like – or when it will come. This passage is encouraging to me. Why? Because if Daniel, who had interpreted so many dreams and visions, was unable to understand the end times, it’s okay for me to not understand any more than he did. There are so many people (pastors, preachers, authors, lay people) who proclaim they know exactly what’s going to happen and when. Daniel 8 tells me that God has not revealed enough for us to clearly understand what is to come.

It means I can live my life for Him, knowing this could be the last day or just the beginning, in a way that glorifies Him and witnesses to others. Whenever He comes, and however God’s plan unfolds, I want to be ready to meet my Creator and using the gifts He gave me to be about God’s work to the best of my abilities. I will not get caught up in trying to understand or in fearing the end times.

Praising God for His Holiness

We are commanded to give praise and thanksgiving to God. There are many places throughout the Scriptures where we are commanded to do so. Many times King David, in his Psalms, tells us to proclaim God’s greatness. One such place is found in Psalm 70:4 which says, “Let those on the hunt for You sing and celebrate. Let all who love Your saving way say over and over, ‘God is mighty!’” (The Message) We who are followers of God are to say over and over and in many different ways just how great the Lord is.

So I focus a part of my daily time with God, usually after reading the Bible, on praising and worshiping and giving thanks to God. I try to spend about 10 minutes just acknowledging God for who He is and in adoration of His awesomeness. My words are meager and no matter what words I use, I find that I’m often at a loss for the words that truly describe how great God is. I try every day anyway.

Sometimes I find myself repeating certain phrases, especially phrases I’ve read in Scripture of others giving praise to God. In my recent study of Revelation, there are several places where it talks about God being holy, holy, holy. I asked myself why it repeated the word three times. I found that when something is repeated in the Bible it usually means we should take note. In this case my research suggested that repeating something three times indicates perfection. So, God is perfectly holy. But what does holy mean?

Holy means something is derived from a divine power. It means something is blessed, pure, perfect, sacred, pious, moral and upright. God is all those things and so much more. He is the definition of holy. When we say, “Holy, holy, holy God” we are saying that He is perfect and moral and upright in every conceivable way. He is the epitome of holiness and perfection. We are declaring that God is perfect and upright and does everything with total perfection.

Explaining holiness is a tough act. Describing what holiness is is like trying to describe God. In many ways it is impossible for us mere humans to do it. But, we can say the words and proclaim His holiness, trying to wrap our heads around what it means. Doing this is a way of praising God. It’s just one word that describes God’s attributes. He is truly holy, holy, holy – perfectly pure and without blemish or fault. He is God. He is holy.