Saturday, November 30, 2024

11-30-2024

Good Morning All,

     Psalm 1:2, “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

    We spend a lot of time with rules or laws.  We have traffic rules, school rules, sports rules and maybe some of us still have house rules that we live by.  Most of the time, we aren’t big fans of rules.  We tend to see them as restrictions or limitations on our lives.  Yet rules tell us so much more than what we are limited to; they also give us the understanding of the flow of the situation.  We often view this as the intent of the law and intent is important. God’s Law is designed to create a “safe zone” for us in this broken creation. On the outside of God’s Law is danger and chaos. Inside God’s Law is peace and tranquility.

    Psalm 1 tells us about a righteous man.  His (the righteous man) delight is in the law and he meditates on God’s law day and night.  Now when some people read this, they think of just repeating the Ten Commandments over and over.  This seems rather boring.  Add this to our usual thumbnail definition of the law “showing us our sin;” it really would be.  Yet we can go much farther than this. The law of God really shows us the Will of God or what God desires.

    When we see what God desires or commands, we see that we are indeed sinners.  We see that we do need a Savior to redeem us.  However, we are God’s redeemed children, forgiven of our sins.  So, the law shows us more than what we do wrong it also shows us how to live a God-pleasing life.  So, as we study God’s law, we begin to see what God desires.  The law instructs us as to what our creaturely goodness before God is to be.  The commandments can really be seen as a guide to our relationships with God and with our fellow man.

    Some of the commandments are written in the positive as in “do this” and some are written in the negative as in “don’t do this.”   From these we must study and meditate (read the rest of Scriptures as well) to understand what God’s Will for us is.  This can be a daunting task sometimes.  For example, we are told not to covet, that is to want something that our neighbor has.  Suppose your neighbor is renting some land, the landowner comes to you and asks you what you would pay for rent.  When is it coveting and when isn’t it?  This could apply to a job or a position on the team or many other areas.  Some of us have dealt with mistakes with companies and their computers.  Perhaps you got too many items or too much money back, when are you breaking the 7th commandment and when aren’t you? 

    These and other questions can get really difficult.  God’s law is perfect, but we aren’t and there are times when we are put into situations which have no obvious answer to us.  This is why we meditate on the law; to help give us guidance and direction in living a God-pleasing life.   

Dear Father in heaven, we are often blind to your holy Will and even look away when we know it.  Forgive us when we sin.  Turn our hearts to love you and your law.  Give us the wisdom to apply your law to those whom we meet and to show them your love and grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

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