Cleaving Unto God

(This is a summary of Abraham Kuyper's devotional thought "Cleaving Unto Him" from his book Near Unto God)

"Therefore choose life...loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,..." - Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a (ESV)

Religion, that is, the worship of the triune God, is the best means that enriches our heart. Yet it is in religion at the same time that sin best thrives. What started as true devotion to God degenerates into cold formalism, lacking in zeal and heartfelt service, because of sin.

Even though the West may appear better than the East in terms of religion, yet many have corrupted it to a great degree of disappointment. In God's point of view, out of millions who profess devotion to God only a few are really devoted to Him.

Yet God continues to issue His command, saying, "Choose life...holding fast to [the Lord]" (Deut. 30:20). Everyone of us, even the most saintly and godly among us, must hear this command: Cleave [or hold fast] unto the Lord your God. Cleaving or holding fast describes the kind of relationship that believer must have with God. It is a picture of an infant intensely clinging to his mother's breast for milk. In her breast the child finds satisfaction that separation from her makes him cry.

Cleaving to God then means loving God and depending upon Him alone with all our life. But who among us truly manifest this deep, intense, and total devotion to God? Only in Paradise was this complete dedication to God possible, yet it will again be the case when we will be perfected in glory.

Does this mean then we give up pursuing true religion here on earth? No! We continue to seek after God in holy service even though perfect devotion is unachievable in this life.

But how do we cleave to God? It is more than intellectual pursuit or confessional loyalty. It is even more than doing good works and maintaining a pious life. Those who really cleave to God do all these but if these things are done simply out of duty and not of delight, these, too, are meaningless.

Real cleaving or holding fast means continually pursuing God, in good times and bad. Even though we sin and fail, we keep on seeking His forgiveness, daily and momentarily, enjoying His fellowship to the end. Then we can truly sing with the psalmist, "As for me, it is good to be near unto God."

Perseverance and Prayer

"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." - Luke 18:1

As disciples of Jesus Christ and citizens of the kingdom of God you and I are engaged in constant battle. We live in a day not unlike the days of Noah and Lot when wickedness has reached its limit and when people were more interested in goods and good times than God. Probably the only difference is that wickedness and perversity in our day is more sophisticated than their time. But the struggle for the righteous to remain faithful to the Lord remains the same.

And sometimes the battle can be fierce and tiresome, when unbelievers become aggressive in persecuting or marginalizing Christians, as in the case of many places around the world like North East Africa, the Middle East and China. Surely many Christians from those regions long harder for relief and vindication from the Lord.

But this battle can also be subtle. I say that because we wage war not only against the evil one and against the wickedness around us but also against our own sinful nature that constantly clings to us, against our own complacency and lukewarmness to the things of God. And it comes to us in the ordinary situation at home, at work, in school, even in church, when we eat and drink, when we're on our business trip. For college students the battle rages when they're in the dormitory or inside the classroom.

Whatever our status or situation in life is, our struggle is how to remain faithful to the Lord God and loyal subjects of His kingdom. Whether the heat of conflict escalates every passing moment and relief is not visible in the horizon, retreat or withdrawal from the battle line is not an option.

So what should we do? We can't give up. What we need to do is to persist. In order to persevere, we need to pray. We need to pray with our eyes of faith focused on God, not on the fierceness of our battle.

So we read from Luke 1 that our Lord Jesus instructs us to persevere in prayer and not give up until His return. He told this parable in order to drive the point that we need to pray at all times and not to be discouraged when circumstances in life sap our energy and sanctity, and our prayers seems to be unanswered.

The Lord Jesus knows our weakness and that we all are prone to give up. In light of that, He graciously gave His disciples and us this parable of the persistent widow to show that we always ought to pray until God vindicates us, His people.