Psalm 119:172 Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.
In our previous meditation, we saw that God's Word is useful for teaching. This week, we are exploring one of the things that we are taught through the Word - the Law of God.
The Psalmist had made this discovery. as he looked into God's Word, he saw the commandments of the Lord and their righteousness. Because his heart was changed through his relationship with God, he found these commandments to be beautiful and a cause of great joy, and he wanted to burst into song as a result.
We know from Scripture that all of us are born with a dim awareness of God's laws. We have a conscience that alerts us when we are contemplating wrong and encourages us when we do right. We also know, though, that we can sear that conscience and silence it when we are determined to persist in a path of wrongdoing. The useful thing about God's Word is that it gives us much more than a dim awareness of God's commandments - they are all recorded for us to read and study. This is useful in two ways. First, the unbeliever will find that the law condemns him or her, and the sense of that just condemnation may be used by God to drive them to Christ for salvation if they will heed it. Second, once having come to Christ, the law continues its work of highlighting sin, prompting confession and forgiveness and playing an important role in the work of making the believer more like Jesus.
How many times have you looked into your Bible at a passage relating to the commandments of God and felt like singing for joy? How many times have you realized that these commandments are righteous and that it is a wonderful thing when God uses them to make us conscious of our sin? In today's church, the answer to both questions is likely to be "never", because all talk of law and of commandments is dismissed as legalistic. The law is seen as a bad thing that no longer has any relevance for the believer. Paul said that "the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." (Romans 7:12). It is an odd progression in our understanding that causes us to disagree with the psalmist in our text and also with the Apostle to the gentiles! We need the Law and we should love the Law. We are not saved by keeping it, but it shows us true love, true holiness and the true character of our God.
In this coming week, let's sing over the commandments of our God as we read them in God's Word and marvel at how righteous they are!
