““And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?…You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.” Deut. 10:12-20 NKJV……….
“You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.” Deuteronomy 13:4 NKJV………..
In the first verses above, the Lord uses Moses to speak to the Israelites to tell them to fear, serve, obey, and “hold fast” to Him. In Deuteronomy 13:4, the Lord makes clear through Moses He is testing the people to see whether they will follow the false prophets and their ways, or whether they will follow and “hold fast” to Him as He commands them to do. To “hold fast” to Him as Lord.
One day the Spirit of God in speaking to me about one of a beautiful and abundant array of friends of mine said this:
“Cling to me.
Not to her.
Not to anyone.
Cling to me.”
In some translations of the Bible, the words “hold fast” in the verses above are translated from the original Hebrew language instead into “cling” and “cleave”. The bottom line is that the Lord commands us, and desires it, and is worthy of, that He be OUR NUMBER ONE LOVE, OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY, the One FOR WHOM WE LIVE, the One we LOVE, FEAR, SERVE, and OBEY, the One we PRAISE and WORSHIP, the One we adore and honor and strive to please above anything and anyone in the universe! And the One to whom we HOLD FAST, to whom we CLING, to whom we CLEAVE.
We humans are clingers by nature, aren’t we? Right from the start as babies, we cling to a mother’s nipple, a baby bottle, the fingers of a loving hand, a spoon to demand more food, our little baby toys, etc. As we grow up, we start holding fast to, clinging to, and cleaving to just about anything and anyone. Whether good or bad, positive or negative, godly or wicked.
There is nothing wrong with clinging to someone, or something, positive and godly if the clinging is pleasing to God, such as holding tight the hand of a loved one, clinging tightly in our arms to a loved one who has just experienced a tragedy, clinging to a baby to keep him from falling from one’s lap, etc., BUT WE MUST CLING AND HOLD FAST AND CLEAVE ABOVE ALL ELSE EACH AND EVERY MOMENT AND BREATH AND STEP OF OUR LIVES TO THE LORD GOD ALIMGHTY! For He is Lord! Above all!
Are you clinging to anything or anyone more so than you are clinging to the Lord? Release your hold and cling to THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Oh, cling to the Lord, my friend, cling to Him!