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\u201cI have looked to you with all my\xa0heart\u201d (Psalm 119:58).

\u201cSo, how you doin\u2019?\u201d That\u2019s a question you\u2019ll hear asked around this place. It\u2019s become an invitation to slow down and take stock. It doesn\u2019t allow for a generic, \u2018I\u2019m fine\u2019 kind of answer\u2019. Rather, the question is an invitation to reflect on the heart. How are things deep down in your soul?

Now, for those of you who don\u2019t know, the here, I\u2019m referring to is Immanuel Church in Hamilton, ON, where these devotions are scripted and recorded.

The simple question, \u201cSo, how you doin?\u201d pre-dates COVID-19. You see, Pastor Anthony and I become co-pastors at Immanuel in the fall of 2019. Neither of us had been in such a ministry arrangement before. \u201cSo, how you doin\u2019?\u201d became our invitation to each other to explore how well we were living into this ministry model so that we and the church could flourish. The question was never, \u201cwe have to talk\u201d as much as, \u201cwe haven\u2019t had a chance to talk for a while, so let\u2019s make time.\u201d

During this COVID season it has also become an invitation to explore together what ministry should look like when all normality has fled. But at its core, it remains a question about the heart. Our text puts it differently, \u201cI have looked to you with all my\xa0heart\u201d (verse 58). How\u2019s that going for us? And, are we helping this church to do that?

These devotions, Wilderness Wanderings, were originally designed as a means for these two co-pastors to use the Word of God to shepherd this church through the COVID shutdown. Well, several months later the shutdown continues and these devotions have grown into more. You can find them on Spotify now. In my episodes, I have invited you to journey with Abraham and to dive deep into Romans 12.

Now, I invite you come with me to the wilderness of Judea in the dying days of Samuel\u2019s ministry and find a shepherd who will become king of all Israel. His name, of course, is David. This will not be a chronological study of his life, but a random sampling of his life and poetry. The entry point will be God\u2019s description of him before we even know his name. He is described as \u2018a man after [God\u2019s] own heart\u2019 (NIV) or \u2018a man who is dear to [God\u2019s] heart\u2019 (NIRV).

That\u2019s high honour. But what does it mean? Samuel doesn\u2019t say. God doesn\u2019t say. And David doesn\u2019t say. But I think, if we consider David\u2019s life and poetry we might come up with some plausible answers. Psalm 119 will be our guide. It\u2019s not likely that David composed this psalm, but, I have always considered it to be meditation on Psalm 19, which is attributed to David. Here is the middle part of that psalm:

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.

And then these more famous words, immortalized in a short song:

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

Some of you will know that Psalm 119 is very long, 176 stanzas long, each including a reference to God\u2019s word. What is not as well known, is that the word \u2018heart\u2019, also shows up regularly in this Psalm. A well-known example is, \u201cI have hidden your word in my heart\u201d (11). The late J.I. Packer, suggested this means that God\u2019s word is the core, the most important part, of our beings.

Our lives have changed. The world has changed. It can all be very unsettling. We may find it difficult to answer the question, \u201cSo, how you doin\u2019?\u201d Thus, I invite you to join me for several episodes of Wilderness Wanderings as we ask and answer that question, understanding that as Christians we do want to be people dear to God\u2019s heart. We want to be able to say with the Psalm writer \u201cI have looked to you will all my heart\u201d (Psalm 119:58); we want the word of God to be the core of our being.

Until next time, I invite you to consider what God meant when he said of David, \u201che is a person after my own heart.\u201d