Love Only the One Worthy of Loving

32 Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

“The Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” This description was unusual in such ancient times. Almost without exception, the gods of other nations were gods of something. Ra was the Egyptian god of the sun, Baal was the Canaanite god of the storm, and so on. But the Lord is God over all things in heaven and on earth.

It is a relief to serve the one God who exists independently of heaven and earth. For whenever we desire something that is a part of heaven or earth, it will disappoint our deepest longings. St. Augustine said, “One who seeks what he cannot obtain suffers torture, and one who has got what is not desirable is cheated, and one who does not seek for what is worth seeking for is diseased. Happiness occurs only when man’s chief good is both loved and possessed.” In other words, if we seek bad things, we will cheat ourselves. If we seek what we cannot have, we will torture ourselves. If we do not seek out what is worth finding, we will be diseased. Only seeking and finding the one true God can satisfy the desire of the human heart. This is why the command to love God above all else is really the key to happiness. Seeking the greatest good and finding it in God frees us from the love of other things that are unworthy, unobtainable, or inferior.

O God, may we seek only you. All other things will ultimately disappoint us. Lead us to find you and rest in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.