Serving whole-heartedly

Deuteronomy 28:47-48
“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Deuteronomy 28 describes the curses due Israel for disobedience. I'm sure that reading and remembering it had quite an effect on God's people - it's very detailed. However in forgetting to make God's law and Word central to their lives, this warning becomes a reality. There is no neutral ground in obedience. We cannot obey to commands of "doing" God's Word if we ignore the commands of "hearing" God's Word. We cannot celebrate the "abundance" of God's blessing if we fail to celebrate the "sufficiency" of His Word as well. His law cannot bring us hope if we lose hope in His law.
We will either serve Him whole-heartedly or we will be pulled away to serve another master. We will either serve with joy and gladness of heart or we will allow our harts to be hard and harder yet as we take our eyes, minds and hearts off of God and His Statutes.
Am I serving Him with Joy? Is my heart glad? In the midst of trying times, do I identify His blessings? Where will I set my eyes today?

Father - help me focus my eyes, mind and heart on You - to serve You whole-heartedly in joy and gladness, no matter the circumstances. Amen.