Look at all the pretty things (or rather, don't!)

I'm over a quarter of the way into my readings of Numbers, and predictably, it has not been a wow like Luke. There are a lot of lists. I do feel the same way I did in Genesis - that all of these people were used  in ordinary faithfulness to carry out an enormous divine purpose they could only glimpse from afar.

There has, however, been one verse leaping out at me every time

And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 
Leviticus 15:39 

There are so very many things we can worship besides Jesus. GK Chesterton said that "When we cease to worship God, we don't worship nothing. We worship anything". We have hearts that are so prone to wander, and that's exactly why we have this warning here not to follow after our hearts. Further, we can only see so many things. We can't see the big picture the way God can, nor do we know the end from the beginning, as He does (Isaiah 46:10). This is why we walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We are called to live a life that trusts Jesus to be the light by which we see, and to give us new hearts that are sensitive to His guiding hand (Ezekiel 36:26).

I was thinking about all this when I heard the song All The Pretty Things by Tenth Avenue North for the first time in awhile

We are, we are, we're caught in the in between 
Of who we already are and who we are yet to be 
And we're looking for love but finding we're still in need 
It's only what we have lost will we be allowed to keep 

And we're waiting but our eyes are wandering 
To all this earth holds dear 

Look at all the pretty things 
That steal my heart away 
I can feel I'm fading 
'Cause Lord I love so many things 
That keep me from Your face 
Come and save me 

We run we run to finally be set free 
But we're fighting fighting for what we've already received 

So we're waiting but our eyes are wandering 
To all this earth holds dear 

Look at all the pretty things 
That steal my heart away 
I can feel I'm fading 
'Cause Lord I love so many things 
That keep me from Your face 
Come and save me 

We are we are caught in the in between 
But we're fighting for what we already have received 
We are we are caught in the in between 
But we're fighting for what we already have received 

Look at all the pretty things 
That steal my heart away 
I can feel I'm fading 
'Cause Lord I love so many things 
That keep me from Your face 
Come and save me

I like how this song speaks of the tension we live in right now - our hearts have been freed to love Jesus, but we don't yet love Him fully. One day, though, we will see Him as He is, and everything else we loved will fall away. I'm holding onto this promise in Ezekiel 

And I will give them an undivided heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and given them a heart of flesh   11.19 

Oh, what a beautiful day that will be, when I am free at last to worship Jesus as He deserves!