Love The LORD, All You His Saints!

At the end of Psalm 31, David addresses the saints and gives this command: Love the LORD! It calls our attention back to Deuteronomy 6, where we are called to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, and might.

But what does it mean to love Yahweh? And why does David make love a command? Does the command to love neglect any emotion felt in the love because it is commanded?

No. Indeed, to love is to feel. It is to experience. Love is an emotion. And through the Scriptures, God is commanding us to love Him. When the Scripture says to love God, it means to experience delight in Him, to see Him as worthy, to taste and see and be satisfied. To love God is to behold Him as He is and respond with right affections. When God commands us to love Him, it is loving of Him to do so, for in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). He seeks our highest joy in commanding our affections.

What else does it look like to love Him? David gives a few examples in Psalm 31. First, it means to make God our refuge. 3 times, David refers to God as a refuge. To love God is to make Him our only security, our only dwelling place. It means we have no other comforts or places of security above Him.

Secondly, to love Him is to trust Him in difficult times. When David's life was in danger, we read in v. 14, But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands.

Because David loved God and knew that God loved Him, He trusted in the meticulous providence of God and did not falter.

And lastly, to love God is to praise Him. When God answers David's prayer, he says in verse 21, Blessed be the Lord!

To love God is to have a song of praise in our hearts to Him. God is after our affections, not just outward acts of obedience. He's after our delight.

So love the LORD, o you at Living Stone! Make Him your refuge, trust in His unfailing love, and praise Him! Taste and see that He is good, and that He is more satisfying than any earthly thing we could experience!

Prayer: O LORD our God, our affections for you are not what they ought to be. We cannot love you as we ought in our own strength. We need supernatural help, we need Your help. So we ask the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to enflame our hearts with love towards the infinitely worthy one. Holy Spirit, help us to taste and see that Jesus is so good. Holy Spirit, we ask that as we behold our King, the things of earth would grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Yes, O Lord, help us to love you. In Your Name, Amen.

~ Pastor Alexander