LAW

A crumpled gray Saturn blocks the intersection while scores of drivers stuck by the accident sputter at the infuriating delay. Firemen extract the old woman from her car smashed by a young man in a big hurry. She saw a green light and preceded east on Canon Street. He was headed south on Anarchic Avenue. Irritated and in a hurry he ignored the red and sped through the intersection broad siding the hapless woman.

Why is it that so many people disdain laws and take unbelievable steps to circumvent them? Why did the Lawgiver also build within us the freedom to obey or disobey Him? It is interesting to note in Psalm 119, the observations of a writer whose soul was consumed with continuous longing and love for God’s laws. (20,97). Can you remember anyone ever walking up to you and saying, “I just love God’s laws!”? In truth, what we love says a lot about our character. As the Psalmist prayed, may we pray, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.” (119:18)

Selfishness is a formidable enemy of the law. The Psalmist wrote, “Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain.” (119:36) Our desire to please our flesh results in our undoing. Because selfishness is often subtle and insidious a good prayer is, “Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and obey it with all my heart.” (119:34) We also need to avoid making excuses. Satan whispers, “You’re already flawed and it’s impossible to be holy so just do the best you can and don’t worry about breaking a few laws.” Oswald Chambers aptly notes, “Because a thing is impossible in a man’s present moral imperfection it does not mean he is exonerated from it. God’s law has nothing to do with possibility or impossibility.” When we set our desires first we find the end result of our experiments to be chaos, pain and disrepute. When we put His kingdom and will first we die to self and profoundly experience the liberty contained in obedience.

The Benefits of God’s Laws

· They provide us counsel and delight—“Your statues are my delight; they are my counselors.” (119:24,35)

· They provide us comfort—“I remember Your ancient laws, O Lord, and I find comfort in them.” (119:52)

· They give us peace and keep us from moral failure—“Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.” (119:165)

· They preserve our lives—“I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have preserved my life.” (119:93)

· They make us wise and understanding—“I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.” (119:104)

· Keeping them brings God’s approval!—“You reject all who stray from Your decrees, for their deceitfulness is in vain.” (119:118)

Inspiration

“God’s laws are not watered down to suit anyone; if God did that He would cease to be God. The moral law never alters for the noblest or the weakest; it remains abidingly and eternally the same.”—Oswald Chambers in Biblical Ethics

“If God exists, everything is possible; if there is no God, everything is permitted.”—Dostoyevsky