Freedom = Obedience = Freedom

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. (Psalm 119:32)
I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:44-45)

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the words law, rules, or commandments? If you’re like me, I suspect you think of limitation, restriction, or constraint, but certainly not freedom.

Yet freedom is what the writer of Psalm 119 envisions when he thinks of keeping God’s Law. The picture he paints is one of walking or running in a wide place. Whenever I read these verses I think of that majestic scene in The Sound of Music when Julie Andrews, on top of a flower-filled mountain surrounded by a breathtaking view, opens wide her arms, heart, and voice singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music….” I think that picture is just a glimmer of the freedom the psalmist says God’s Law gives him.

These verses offer two perspectives on this law and freedom connection. In verse 35 the psalmist claims that freedom leads to law-keeping: the Hebrew reads “I will run in the way of your commandments for you set my heart free.” God has freed the psalmist’s heart and as a result he begins to run in the paths of loving God and loving others. But by contrast, in verse 45 the psalmist suggests that law-keeping leads to freedom: “I shall walk in a wide place for I have sought your precepts.” Following the paths of loving God and loving others leads to a wide open freedom that one who does not seek God's Law will never know.

As is often the case when we meditate on God’s Word, we find ourselves in tension between two seemingly opposing truths. But I believe these two truths work together this way: When God sets our hearts free we will obey His laws. Obeying the Law of God feels like and is freedom because we were made to live in loving relationship to God and others.

Remember, Paul taught “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” and that the Spirit is the one who is shaping us into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), the perfect Law-Keeper. How so? Think of the New Covenant (it was clearly on Paul’s mind here) in which God promises to “put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:27). When we have the Spirit, we have freedom from our slavish self-centeredness. That same Spirit also gives us a new desire and power we never had before: the desire and the power to obey God's Law.

So, how do we receive this Spirit and His freedom? We become participants in the New Covenant, receiving His Spirit and freedom from bondage to sin, when we trust the true message of the Gospel, that the blood of Christ crucified is the payment for our breaking the Royal Law of God (John 8:31-36, James 2:8-10, Luke 22:20, Galatians 3:1-5). The Spirit we receive by believing the Gospel not only sets us free from bondage to sin, but also releases us to a life of loving God and others, according to the “law of liberty” (James 1:25, 2:12).

"The world counts obedience to be a mean-spirited thing, and speaks of rebellion as freedom," C. H. Spurgeon once wrote. But perhaps the idea of equating obedience to God’s rules with unfettered freedom is not so strange for those who have the Spirit of Truth living in them, making them more and more able to abound in love for God and others (John 16:13, 17:17, Philippians 1:9-11).

"For freedom Christ has set us free...For you were called to freedom, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:1, 13). If you have the Spirit you are free to obey. So, open your life wide and love!

Seeking Satisfaction

When I was in college, choosing a "life verse" was vogue. Mine was Psalm 27:8 (NASB) "When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 'Your face, O Lord, I shall seek." I can't remember now what drew me to that verse then, but I now recognize how heart-mind-soul-and-strength-consuming that life goal is.

Another theme that has shaped me is that of "thirsting for God". Passages such as John 7:37-39, Psalms 42 and 63, Isaiah 55:1-3, Jeremiah 2:13 have helped feed this imagery. I long to be a "riverheart" in and through whom the Spirit is overflowing, one who is so satisfied with and in Christ that he is freed to joyfully give others a taste of this thirst-slaking Savior.

For awhile I wondered what these two themes had to do with each other and why God would impress them so strongly on my heart. How pleased I was a few years ago to discover Psalm 17:15: "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness." The Lord encouraged me with this verse by confirming that "seeking His face" and "thirsting for Him" were one and the same pursuit! But Psalm 17:15 goes a bit further to remind me that it is only "in righteousness" that I can "see and savor" Him. I need the gospel. And so, the gospel becomes the window through which I seek Him and the wellspring of my satisfaction in Him.

Asking God for the Good Life

Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Psalm 119:17

The psalmist prays the prayer that most likely echoes in the halls of heaven more than any other: “Deal bountifully with me, God. Be good to me. Bless me. Let me live. Give me life.” Everyone wants God to do them good, to help them, to give them mercy and grace, to get them out of their troubles, to pour out blessings on them. Everyone wants the good life. This part of the psalmist’s request is not that unusual.

What is out of the ordinary is the purpose for which the psalmist asks God to deal bountifully with him: “that I may live and keep your word.” It’s his reason for living that makes the psalmist’s request for a bountiful life unusual. He defines “the good life” in terms of keeping God’s word. The psalmist believes that living is for loving God and loving others, for that is what keeping God’s word entails, full obedience to God’s law (Matthew 22:36-40). The good life is one that is so full of God’s bountiful goodness that it overflows with blessing back to God and out to others. Jesus taught his followers that the one who is given God’s good life seeks not to be served, but to serve and to give his life away for God and others (Mark 10:45). The Lord’s brother reminds us that to ask for God's blessing in order to spend it on our own passions is to ask wrongly (James 4:3). The Apostle Paul prayed rightly for the Philippians: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…so that you may approve what is excellent…filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:9-11). The fruit of righteousness consists of obedience to God's Law.

Once again the psalmist teaches us to pray a cruciform prayer: “Father, you have dealt bountifully with us by way of the cross. We know that he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will also graciously give us all good things (Romans 8:32). Give us the goodness and grace of Christ so that we may live a cross-shaped life of loving God and loving others.”

Funny, Famous, and the Family of God

Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word.
Let those who fear you turn to me, that they may know your testimonies.
Psalm 119:74, 79

In my 28 years of belonging to the family of God, I have wrestled with an inordinate desire to please people. I want to be loved and liked by people, especially the people of God. That desire has sometimes led me to be motivated to live by people-pleasing performance more than by God-pleasing faith. Two traps I have fallen into on a number of occasions (and still get caught in) are the desires to be funny and to be famous. Somehow my flesh figures that if I’m funny, folks will be fond of me, and if I’m famous, folks will follow me. How evil can you get? Both of these desires lead me to manipulate others for my own glory.

These verses in Psalm 119 serve as a corrective as to how I should relate to the people of God and how I should desire that they relate to me. I should want God’s people to relate to me in at least two ways. First, I should want them to “see me and rejoice” (vs. 74). Second, I should want them to “turn to me” (vs. 79). At first glance it may seem that I should continue to pursue being funny and famous. The psalmist wanted God’s people to experience joy because of him, and he wanted God’s people to turn to him, to come to him. That’s all I want, right? Not exactly. Let’s look at why the psalmist wants God’s people to rejoice and turn to him.

The psalmist wants God’s people to look at his life and rejoice because they see a man who hopes in God’s Word. When I use humor to get people to look at me and like me, I am not hoping in God’s Word, but in my own. I’m counting on my own witty words so that people rejoice in me. The psalmist wants the people of God to rejoice in God, and in order to do that they need His Word not mine! Am I leading God’s people to hope in God’s Word and thereby find their joy in Him? Do they see in me someone who’s finding His joy in God as he depends on God’s Word (Romans 10:17)?

The psalmist wants God’s people to turn to him so that they would follow God, not him. The psalmist wants people to follow him only if it leads them to know the testimonies of God resulting in obedience to God’s commands to love Him and to love others. Just as Paul encouraged his disciples to “be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1; Phillipians 3:17), so I am to live a cruciform life that serves as a “flannel graph in the flesh” or a living example of what it means to know and live the testimonies of God (2 Timothy 1:13).

Only the gospel can change a self-absorbed heart like mine into one that lives for the glory of God and the good of others. Lord have mercy...

Answering the Enemy

Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
Psalm 119:41-42

With what weapon shall I fight the enemy who taunts me? How shall I fight the accuser of my soul who barrages me with reminders of my sin and unrighteousness? How will I survive the onslaught of self-condemnation my flesh pours out? How can I resist idolizing the world’s good gifts which promise my soul’s satisfaction? The world, the flesh, and the devil collaborate to convince me that the love of God for “such a worm as I” is incredulous.

The psalmist suggests that I mount a cruciform counterattack. Fight back with the cross. The steadfast love of God comes to me as I trust His promise of salvation (vs. 41). Yes, I sin and fall short of the righteous requirement of His royal Law. Yes, such sin and rebellion deserve the wrath of God much less the condemnation I inflict upon myself. Yes, I am too quick to make gods out of God’s good gifts. But, knowing all of that about me, my gracious God promised that He would wash away all my unrighteousness, put His own Spirit in me, and cause me to delight to love Him and others. He promised to save me from His wrath and from myself. He promised that I would enjoy an unfailing relationship of love with Him (Ezekiel 36:25-28).

This promise, called the New Covenant, finds its fulfillment in the gospel, the “word of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18). We celebrate and remember this promise every time we drink from the cup of “the New Covenant in [His] blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25; Luke 22:20). Remembering that promise, trusting that word from God, arms me with an answer for the enemy who taunts me (vs. 42). The gospel is my weapon against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The psalmist would agree with Robert Murray M’Cheynne who said that “for every look at self, take ten looks at the cross.” Touché! Take that, taunter!

God's Best Right Now

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me; He will put to shame Him who tramples on me.
God will send out his steadfast love and His faithfulness!
My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down among fiery beasts--
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!
--Psalm 57:2-5 written by David when he fled from Saul in the cave

I recently heard someone who was going through a difficult season in their ministry say, "We all know God has His best in mind for us, but we just want to know what that best is." I understood. I often ask God to fulfill His purpose for me, to show me what it is He has me here to be and do, to show me this "best" He has in mind for me. But this time the thought occurred to me, "What if right now is His best for me?" and "What if that 'best' includes the pain I'm experiencing in the here and now?" Someone once said that sometimes our Plan B was God's Plan A all along. The fact is, right now is His best for me right now...whether I'm suffering or smiling. Why do I keep looking around the corner for God to fulfill His purpose for me in some big, flashy way when His purpose for me is to love Him with all that I am right now and to love my neighbor, whomever that happens to be right now?

David wrote about the "God who fulfills His purpose for me" while he was in the midst of persecution. God's "best" was David's "right now". Though David knew that God's purpose included a future throne (now that's big and flashy!), He accepted the "right now" of unjust persecution as God's best for him right now. But David didn't stop at stoically receiving his present circumstances as "whatever will be will be". Rather, in the deep darkness of his pain he loved God by praising His glory (Psalm 57), and he loved his enemy, Saul, by refusing to take an opportunity to kill him (1 Samuel 24:1-22).

Right now there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of my brothers and sisters all over the world who are suffering for the sake of Christ. We prayed for some of them tonight at our evening service set aside to remember the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Hidden in their homes, they live the cruciform life by worshipping God and praying for those who persecute them. Tonight, I sat comfortably in my padded pew wearing a new shirt I got for my birthday wondering, "Do I really know what it means to suffer for Jesus? Do I dare ask God for such affliction so that I might know Him more intimately? Or am I already severely afflicted by the affluence, comfort, and ease which dull my heart's desire to love God and others?"

I cry out to You, O God Most High...settle me this second in Your best!

Cruciform Love and Suffering

"Trouble and anguish have found me out,
but Your commandments are my delight."
Psalm 119:143

I've been dealing with the pain associated with a mysterious "arthritic" illness since this summer, so these words puzzled and excited me at the same time this morning. How is it that the psalmist can delight in the commandments of God in the midst of his "trouble and anquish"? How can he find joy in obeying God in the middle of suffering? Can he really focus on loving God and loving others (which are the two commandments that summarize all of God's commandments, Matthew 22:36-40) when his pain cries out for relief? When I hurt, I want to see to it that God and others love me! My pain (though it pales in comparison to most) commands me to become self-centered, not God-and-others-centered. This verse just doesn't fit the categories of the comfort-driven life that I like to lead. It's just plain odd, if I'm honest.

As I think about Jesus, though, living out cruciform love in the face of pain is not absurd at all. Jesus could have said (and may have, we don't know) these very words in the garden the night before he was handed over to suffering and death. His heart was troubled, and He sweat drops of blood in anguish over the suffering He was about to face. And yet in the midst of suffering that none of us can imagine (namely, separation from His Father), Jesus delighted in obeying His Father's commands to love Him and love others! "For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame..." (Hebrews 12:2), and so, He said "not my will, but Yours be done." "Whatever suffering and pain may come, Father, nothing gives me more pleasure than loving You and others...even if loving You and others intensifies the pain I'm already experiencing." Can I say that?

There is one difference, though, between the psalmist and Jesus. The psalmist said that he would obey even though his suffering sought and found him. Jesus, however, chose to suffer in order to obey (John 10:17-18).

As for me, I'm a long way from the heart of either the psalmist or Jesus! In either case, whether I've chosen to suffer or suffering has chosen me, I'm desperately in need of being shaped by Jesus' cruciform love into the shape of cruciform love. Thanks be to God for using the mirror of His Word both to show me my shape and to shape me again this morning!