How I love Your Law!

Psalm 119:97-112  from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

How I love Your Law!
It is my meditation all the day.
⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,
For they are ever mine.
⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰ I understand more than those who are old,
Because I have complied with Your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
So that I may keep Your word.
¹⁰² I have not turned aside from Your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ From Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn and I will confirm it,
That I will keep Your righteous judgments.
¹⁰⁷ I am exceedingly afflicted;
^[Revive me, Lord, according to Your word.
¹⁰⁸ Be pleased to accept the voluntary offerings of my mouth, Lord,
And teach me Your judgments.
¹⁰⁹ My life is continually in my hand,
Yet I do not forget Your Law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have set a trap for me,
Yet I have not wandered from Your precepts.
¹¹¹ I have inherited Your testimonies forever,
For they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, even to the end.

The psalmist says: How I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than those who are old, Because I have complied with Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, So that I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  God’s word and His commandments are not meant to deprive or restrict us. They are meant for our good, to give us wisdom and insight. If we comply with God’s word we find it to be good and sweet. Only when we resist or reject God’s word is it harsh and bitter. In Deuteronomy 30:15-20 God says: “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” 

The psalmist says: From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. In John 8:12 Jesus says: “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  John 1:1-5;14 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  Jesus is one with the word. He Himself is our light and our lamp, to show us the way. In John 14:6 Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The psalmist says: I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous judgments. I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, Lord, according to Your word. Be pleased to accept the voluntary offerings of my mouth, Lord, And teach me Your judgments. My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your Law. The wicked have set a trap for me, Yet I have not wandered from Your precepts. I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end. We are not only revived according to God’s word, but we are revived, restored and redeemed by the word made flesh. We indeed were afflicted, but Isaiah 53:4-6 says: It was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him. Jesus bore our afflictions on the cross. In John 16:33 He says: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  Sometimes it can be difficult to hold firmly to God’s word as we struggle against the difficulties and darkness of the world. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says: “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”  God’s word and obedience to Him is not difficult, it is comfortable. It is in His word and His will that we find rest.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. How I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. I find rest in You. Amen.