The Law of the Lord - Psalm 119:137-144

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Many of us, when we think about the concept of “law,” have mixed feelings.  

Most would agree that it’s a good idea to have laws, just in general: an authoritative structure that helps us live a peaceful life together in our society.  

The laws that govern Canada, or that we have for this town, define our shared values. Our experience of what works and what doesn't.  

But some of us have not had positive experiences with the law. Sometimes we encounter laws that should never have been made—that should never have been on the books in the first place. We might encounter someone who is enforcing the law, but they do it unfairly, unjustly. We might have a situation where we want the law to act on our behalf, and it just takes forever... or it doesn't happen at all. Our experience of the law is mixed.  

It is something that we need. It is something that we entrust people to put in place on our behalf. It decides our relationship with other people. It decides what we ought to be punished for, and fair enough. What we ought to feel guilty for, and fair enough. And sometimes, if we're very, very lucky, what we ought to be rewarded for.  

Throughout Psalm 119, the poet uses nine different words to reference God’s law. Those words we translate in different ways, depending on their meaning in the original language. For example:  

• 'Direction' (for moral conduct and for worship),  
• 'Promises, commands, and prophecies' (things that He says will happen), 
• 'Verdicts and decisions' (saying yes or no to one thing or another), 
• 'Testimonies' (authoritative confirmations saying 'yes, this is true'), 
• 'Commandments' (shared standards of behaviour), 
• 'Statutes' (God’s faithfulness as a king towards His people) 

The poem contains nine distinct words, nine nuanced images, that define our relationship with God, that define our relationship with each other.  

One of my commentaries provided this definition of God's law: 

“God's law is a balanced ordering of human life. God's law is a handrail which steadies and guides a person to walk rightly. It embraces all of the movements of human life with God. God's law is an expression of his will, an expression of perfection. And the psalmist expresses utter trust and submission to God's plan for the universe and for moral order.” 

God's law, whether it was written on Moses' stone tablets, whether it was written on parchments and papyrus, whether it is written on the human heart in the form of a conscience, whether it is written into the laws that bind energy and matter and regulate how they function in the universe... God's law is an expression of His will. It is an expression of perfection.  

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If I'm driving down the road and I see a sign that says “SPEED LIMIT 50 BEGINS,” that sign expresses the will of someone in authority. Someone has examined the terrain, examined the neighbourhood, examined the physical reality of that zone. They have considered the danger levels. They have considered the technology of our vehicles. They have considered human nature, and human capacity to stop quickly. And they have decided that it is their will that I drive no faster than 50 down this block. If I obey, then I am acknowledging that they have a perspective that I (trying to get somewhere I should have been 5 minutes ago because I left the house late) don't have. So I trust their perspective. I (ideally) drive 50.  

When it comes to God's law, the principle is the same. But we have the advantage of actually knowing the law-maker.  

I think a lot of people imagine God as a bureaucrat sitting at His desk, making decisions about how to control people, and how to get them to do what He thinks they ought to do.  

They picture a king on His throne making pronouncements. “Do what I say!” 

God does have that right. He is God, we are not. He has the perspective. He has the understanding. He has the right to sit on His throne and to tell us what His will is. 

But there is so much more than that to God's will for us. There is so much more to God's law than just Him insisting that we be good.  

Followers of Jesus can recognize other voices speaking to us from within God's law.  

First: Our ancient, Old Testament friend writing Psalm 119 uses language that does not sound bureaucratic to me. In the section that starts in verse 33, He writes things like: 

• Teach me, Lord, your statutes.  
• I delight in your commandments.  
• Turn my heart to your testimonies.  
• I am awestruck by your word.  
• I long for your precepts.  
• Your righteousness revives me.  

In those lines, I'm hearing Holy Spirit vocabulary: teaching, finding joy, turning towards, longing for, feeling awe, being revived by God's law.  

The apostle Paul writing says something similar: 

We have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 

We are taught wisdom by Holy Spirit who reminds us what Jesus taught us, who brings truth to our listening hearts. 

For the believer in Jesus, for the follower of Christ, living God's law is Holy Spirit work.  

Second: Followers of Jesus can also hear Jesus' own voice speaking to us through God's law and through God's will.  

In Matthew chapter 5, there's a section of teaching in which Jesus addresses God's written, recorded law.  

He says to the people around him: ‘I get it. I know that you have heard it said, I know that you have seen it written down in the law, ‘do not murder,’ ‘do not commit adultery,’ ‘a man has the right to send his wife away,’ ‘keep your vows,’ ‘make the punishment fit the crime,’ ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ All laws that are written in stone and on paper for the nation of Israel to govern themselves by.  

Jesus says, ‘I know you have read that. It is in the law.’  

“But I say...”  

He challenges us to think deeper. He challenges us to go beyond just being good. He challenges us to go beyond just keeping the rules, because just keeping the rules is not the point. Ticking the boxes is not the point. Keeping score is not the point. Having a self-satisfied checklist of things that I never did (well, I never stole a car (check), I've never used drugs (check), I've never littered (check). Look at me! I'm keeping God's law!)  

What God wants for us, God's will for us, goes beyond just being well-behaved.  

Keeping the rules is good. Keeping the rules is a symptom that you're on the right path. Keeping the rules is a sign that you are using those handrails, that you are accepting the gift of the one who put them there. Keeping the rules is a sign that you are being shaped by the lawgiver into a force for good in this broken world.  

Keeping the rules is a sign that you are learning to see the people around us the way God sees them. That we are learning to see ourselves the way he sees us. Because living God's law—living God's will—is Jesus work.  

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Many of us have heard this saying: “we are under grace, we are not under law.” 

The truth of that statement is that we do not have to, and we cannot, earn our way into God's good books. The truth of that statement is that Christ has done the work of forgiveness, that he has paid our fines, that he has done our time, that he has opened the door to freedom. Our work is to walk through the door that Christ has opened. So I think that Jesus would more or less agree with the statement, “we are under grace, we are not under law.”  

I think He might add... ‘But I say...’  

Yes, we are under grace. Yes, we are not under law. But we are still living within God's law. And God's law is filled with grace.  

God doesn't just make rules and leave us to flounder around trying to figure out how to live up to them: how to be good.  

God will hold us accountable for how we live within His law, and for how we live according to His will. God laid the foundations of the universe. He created the human heart and mind. He has told us how to live the best human lives, how to have harmony with Him, how to have harmony with each other. And—faith family—we are accountable within God's law for how we respond to His grace.