God’s Loving Commands // Psalm 119:143

Welcome to December, my friends! Yesterday we looked at a verse from the beginning of Psalm 119:2 where we looked at the collision between our wants and God’s ways. The big idea is that our joy comes from seeking God’s will, steeping our lives in God’s Word, and walking step-by-step in faith by going God’s way. I want to follow-up today with a verse toward the end of Psalm 119 and how we read that we can find delight in the midst of life’s troubles when we follow God’s commands.

So many people who do not know God think that the Lord’s commands restrict and constrict life with a bunch of “no’s” and don’ts”. That isn’t the heart of God’s commands. Jesus said, as recorded in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (NIV). So how do we square the love of God with the “Thou shalt nots” commonly attributed to the life of faith? It is all about God telling us to avoid the things that will harm us, much like a parent telling a child not to touch the hot stove. Sometimes we are compelled to harmful things in order to understand the “why” behind them. The parent isn’t trying to deprive the child of an experience as much as protect and prevent something bad from happening. I know I touched a hot stove as a kid because my curiosity got the better of me. And you know what? It hurt. Badly. Trouble and distress came upon me, but my parents were there with some first aid and words to explain why they were intent on keeping me from getting hurt. There might have been a tinge of “I told you so” in it, but out of compassion and not condescension. That, my friends, is how God works within us.

So, find the yes in the every no and realize that God is with you in all of your trouble and distress…yes, even the self-inflicted kinds, too. As we move to the physical darkest time of the year, may we look for the light of Christ that comes to illuminate our darkness so we can reflect it and shine for others. Take Jesus’ command to love seriously so we can deploy hope when our world feels lost in trouble and distress.