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My heart is filled with longing for your laws at all times (Psalm 119:20).

I remember a group exercise, probably some ice breaker, in which we were asked what we would like written on our tombstone. I have no idea why someone thought that would be a good icebreaker. Probably, to get into a conversation about legacy. It didn\u2019t seem a very helpful question to me at the time, and I still don\u2019t think so. A much more interesting question to ask is \u201cWhat do people say about me right now?\u201d but not as an icebreaker.

On Tuesday, I began a short series on David, the shepherd boy turned king. When the Bible introduces him, he is not introduced by name, but by what God says about him, \u2018a man after my own heart\u2019 (NIV) \u2018or a man who is dear to my heart\u2019 (NIRV).

That\u2019s high honour. But, as I said, no one defines what that means. So, for the next four Wilderness Wanderings, I want to reflect on what this might mean. This is a series about \u2018How are you doin?\u2019 How are our hearts doing? Are we able to sing, \u201cIt is well with my soul!\u201d? How are we managing this time of COVID as it drags on? Dr. Tam, Canada\u2019s Chief Public Health Officer, has been mentioning that social distancing and mask wearing could go on for several years. It seems to me that our hearts need to be in good order, if we are to run this marathon.

Let\u2019s begin with what seems like the most obvious: obedience. As that famous phrase from Psalm 119 puts it, \u201cI have hidden your word in my heart\u201d. In 2 Chronicles 16:9, we find this, \u201cFor the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.\u201d When David sings the glory of God displayed in both the creation and in God\u2019s law, he ends with this prayer, \u201cMay the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight\u201d (Psalm 19). That great psalm about God\u2019s powerful and tender presence concludes with a prayer that God remove wrong from David\u2019s heart (Psalm 139).

We see David=s obedience clearly in the years before he becomes king. He does not grab the throne. God says, "You will be the next king." But David recognizes that God needs to remove the current king before he can take the throne. So even though Saul has been rejected because he disobeyed God, David continues to honour him as king.

David\u2019s obedience foreshadows a central characteristic of Jesus himself. He claimed to have come to do the Father\u2019s will (John 6:38). When on the cross he called out, \u201cit is finished", he was declaring that he had been obedient to the end.

The pertinent question for us is, \u201cHow do we grow in obedience?\u201d How do we become fully committed to God? Is it even possible to hum with the psalmist, \u201cMy\xa0heart\xa0is filled with longing for your laws at all times\u201d (Psalm 119:20)?

When we try to get started on this path, we tend to try really hard. We look to ourselves to get there. I don\u2019t think that is what David did. In Psalm 19, David spends the bulk of the Psalm looking at what God has made and said. It is only when he has composed his praise, does he ask for a pure heart. We don\u2019t get a longing for obedience by looking to ourselves. When we see God and who he is, will our heart\u2019s get stirred.

So, where has your gaze been lingering these past four months? Is it time to look up again? As the writer of Hebrews once wrote, \u201cLet us fix our eyes on Jesus\u2026\u201d (12:2)