Thursday, July 27, 2017

Rivers of Tears

Thursday, July 27, 2017
Your laws are wonderful.  No wonder I obey them!  The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.  I pant with expectation, longing for your commands.  Come and show me your mercy, as you do for all who love your name.  Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil.  Ransom me from the oppression of evil people; then I can obey your commandments.  Look upon me with love; teach me your decrees.  Rivers of tears gush from my eyes because people disobey your instructions. 
Psalm 119:129-136(NLT)
David loved God as a shepherd boy tending his father’s flocks.  He loved God when he was a fugitive, running for his life because King Saul had a paranoid-schizophrenic break with reality, fearing that God was giving his throne to David.  Saul’s fears were founded, as God was about to have an obedient king in place of the disobedient Saul:
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’  Acts 13:22(NLT)
David loved God even though he was human and could sin as humans do.  That love for God drove David to repentance when he got publicly caught in his sins with Bathsheba; he repented and was restored. 
As a king David was moved to rivers of tears because he saw disobedience throughout the nation of Israel, and he knew the people were making the same mistake as Saul.
When it comes to having a relationship with God, the important thing for human beings to remember is that obedience trumps words, feelings and anything else! 
When David wrote this Psalm he was well on the other side of his most infamous moments of sin and separation from God.  He had experienced both the joy of obeying God’s word, and the pain of his own arrogance as his sin separated him from God’s fellowship.  And you can certainly tell the difference!
Therein is a model with which we can live!  It is the word of God that gives light to our understanding, instruction to our hearts and forms a safe footing for our steps.  Disobedience brings darkness to the soul, confusion in the heart and one trap after another in which we will fall as we are confronted with life’s harshness.
David declared God’s laws/ways were wonderful.  I have heard it described otherwise by today’s culture, as many refuse to have anyone tell them what to do, or how to live.  The difference between David, and those who refuse God’s way, is the reality of just how lovely and fulfilling life can be under God’s wing.   

For You Today

Obedience brings joy.  Don’t be like the child who shouts NO!!! to his parents about eating his string beans; that child will never know the strength healthy food can bring.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: Ian Thomson, via Wikimedia Commons

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