Oh, How I Love Your Law
Happy New Year KIC Lubowa! May it be a year in which we all individually and corporately give more glory to God.
God has led me to write to you about Psalm 119. I have never thought this psalm so relevant to me until now when God stated highlighting it to me. The psalm speaks about the importance of God’s commandments, ways and truth. And does it with some enthusiasm.
Verses 97-104
Mem
97 Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
102 I have not departed from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
In this section of the psalm (called Mem not meme!) I would like to highlight how living God’s laws, commandments, precepts, judgements and words makes you wiser than your enemies and the ancients (elders). Read verses 98, 99 and 100. I used to love listening to discussion programmes on the radio when they would bring clever experts to discuss thorny issues. They stimulated me and maybe made me feel important but nowadays I realise they lack wisdom and speak like fools before God. They use their great minds independent of God instead of turning to and working with God. I’m not going to let them off the hook and say that their intelligence gets in the way of their faith because they choose to use their minds instead of obeying God and it is rebellion just like all sin. God has given some people to be very intelligent and together with him they can do great things. There are great Christian thinkers and they are such a blessing to the church. Believers like John Stott, Jacob Prosch, Neil T Anderson, C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, Josh McDowell and Derek Prince (you can insert your own favourite Christian Intellectual). People who can consume large amounts of information, process it correctly and then communicate it to the rest of the believers. Wonderful!
How is it we can listen to international news for an hour and not hear God mentioned even once. And yet God has created all things, He sustains all things and the future of all things are in His hands. How is it we can watch a two-hour Hollywood movie about the lives of people and God is not mentioned one time! Oh the foolishness and rebellion of man!
God’s truth will keep you on the straight path that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:14. This path can be difficult but it is the right path which leads to life. Others will fall off it but if you stay obedient you will find you are still there right with God. Even when you don’t know what’s happening and you feel like you are in a huge storm where you can’t see anything, if you keep following Christ and obeying God you will come out the other side, even closer to God than when you entered your particular storm, verse 105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Believe me, I have just had two incredible years when my personal life seemed to be falling apart in 2019 and then my service and ministry for God seemed to be falling apart in 2020! I wondered at times, “What is happening God?” But I’m still standing and I don’t take any credit for that, I was just hanging on at times. When I sinned I always came back to God. Please do that, when you sin, however bad, always come back to God. He is waiting for you, not to condemn you but pick you up again.
Desire the truth, desire God, have you ever been really, really thirsty, verse 131 “I opened my mouth and panted. For I longed for Your commandments.” Nothing can satisfy you like God and His ways. Run after it, sacrifice for it, pay for it(like with good books)! The truth will set you free! One thing I have learnt in recent months is that when You give up everything for Christ, in obedience to Him there is an incredible freedom that the unsaved never experience.
Still hungry? Let’s have some more…
Aleph
1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!
3 They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!
6 Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
Such enthusiasm from the psalmist, we are blessed! The more we obey the more we receive. We receive wisdom, guidance at all times, the witness of a pure heart, no shame, blessings and God’s love surrounding us. God is blessed when we obey Him. Fill me up God!
So don’t hold back. Feed on God’s word, on His ways and on His truth. Base your life on Him and His laws and you will never regret it. Is there one person in heaven who can say that they regret obeying God? They’re not there!
God bless you.
Questions
1 In what areas of your life are you disobedient to God?
2 Do you need to spend more time studying (simple but powerful study with a pen, paper and the Holy Spirit) the bible, the Word of God?
3 Read Psalm 119 a couple of times and let it get into your spirit. You may need to read it in passages.
Prayers
Elections-we don’t need to accept that the violence will continue. Pray for all parties involved, pray for fair elections, pray against lies.
Please keep praying for the police, whether you think they are your enemies or they are upholding the law-they have a very difficult job. Pray that people will not provoke them. God help them.
Pray that the Corona virus will not spread more after all this campaigning with large crowds. God is good.
