Scripture: "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul."—DEUT. xxx. 6.
God greatly desires our love. It is the nature of all love to long to be acceptable, and to meet with response. Yes, God longs with a never-ending, fervent desire to have our love, the love of the whole heart.
But how can I attain such a condition? Just in the same way that I receive salvation—through faith alone. Paul says: "I live through the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me." When we take time to wait upon God, and remember with what a burning desire God sought to win our love, through the gift of His Son, we shall be able to realize that God has a strong and never-ceasing longing for the love of our heart.
Our hearts are blind and dark, and we are apt to forget that God longs each day for the love of His child. If I once begin to believe it, I shall feel constrained to tarry before God, and ask Him to let His light shine into my heart. Just as the sun is will¬ing to give me its light and heat, if I will receive them, God is a thousand times more willing to give me the light and glow of His love.
In the Old Testament God gave us the promise of the new covenant (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26), "I will cleanse you, a new heart will I give you, and put within you a new spirit." He gave His Son to die for us, in order to win our love. Take time, O my soul, to grasp this, and wait silently upon God, and become strong in the assurance of faith: God, Who longs for my love, is Almighty, and will shed abroad His love in my heart through the Holy Spirit now dwelling within me.
Oh, that we could understand that there is nothing on earth to be compared to this experience! Shall I not take time each °ay, and give God His desire, and believe with firmer faith? God, Who so greatly longs for my love, will work within me by His Spirit, granting the desire to love Him with my whole heart, and enabling me to prove my love by keeping His commandments.
O Lord, I bow before Thee; fulfil my longing desire, which is also Thy desire, that my heart may be filled with Thy love.
