This theme/ act of “giving the Lord all your heart”, keeps playing in my head. It has been spoken in my heart these last few days and it is making me see the depth of this saying. In 1 Samuel 7:3-4 it stated, “So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only”. This scripture reminded me of the scripture in Pslam 9:1, which says, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds”.
When we do things with our whole heart something miraculous happens. When we read the scripture in Matthew 22: 37 where it says, “He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command”, what is it really saying to us? From what I understand it is saying to do things with pure and true motives unto the Lord. To be all in for Him, fully dedicated without lack or staggering. God does not want you half in He wants you all in. You don’t have to be perfect but willing and ready with an open heart to listen and do as He instructs. He will move you forward in the right direction and help you, but you have to be intentional of submitting first and trusting Him.
God had Israels back the whole time. God was just waiting for their response and their response was to turn away and repent. Once they did that God was able to righteously guard and protect them like He always wanted to do.