psalm 119:2

2 - Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, 

and that seek him with the whole heart.

So, you really want to be happy. Good. Verse one told you how to be happy. You mean you're really serious about being happy? You want more? Well, great. Because there is definitely more.

Blessed (happy) are they that keep (guard, preserves, guard from danger)

 his testimonies (precepts-always plural and always speaking of the divine), 

and that seek (to beat, to tread, to trample with the feet, to thresh, 

[fig] to learn, to study) 

him with the whole heart (inner man, mind, will, understanding).

It is not enough to just obey, one must love. 

It is not enough to follow, one must possess.

It is not enough to say, one must be.

It is not enough to go through the motions, one must own.

I cannot just walk in the law (v. 1), I must keep and seek with my whole heart.  

I must internalize His Word. I must guard His Word. I must preserve every jot and tittle of His Word that I have in my possession. I cannot allow the enemy to steal even a nuance from what has been breathed by God. 

It must become me. I must become it. It must so consume my being that there is no way to separate who I am from who He is and what His Word is. 

The word "keep" has unfathomable depths to which I must plunge. And that's only the first half of the verse!

I must then "seek!" It is understood that the meaning of seek implies to study. But it is derived from a word which means to thresh about, to beat, to trample with the feet. In other words, I can't just read and expect that my seeking will be satisfied. 

I must dig, I must fight to understand, I must enquire, I must not stop before I have an answer, I must do all that is in the power of my intellect and my physical strength to make His Words part of the deepest area of my heart and soul.

The good news is that I do not have to wait until I have reached my goal in order to be happy. 

The good news is that the happiness comes with the actions in progress.

Happiness comes at the beginning of the journey into His beautiful Word, not at the end! It is available to all who will.

You are invited...

© 2012 by Melani Brady Shock