January 13, 2022
Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble. Psalm 119:165
If I believe that the Creator made me fearfully and wonderfully—and in His image (Psalm 139:14, Genesis 1:27), then I should also believe that He desires the very best for me, chiefly life*, for the Lord is not willing that any should perish. He desires that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Why else would His Spirit work so diligently through the Bible writers to instruct me? He also whispers in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12) directly to my God-given conscience.
But, unless I know specifically what it is that I need to repent of, I cannot come to repentance. The Lawgiver has provided exactly what I need in order to discern when I am veering off of the path He has lovingly laid for me, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). He did not delegate this part of His written word to anyone, but spoke the Ten Commandments with His own voice and wrote it with His own finger in stone (see Exodus 20:1 and Deuteronomy 5:22), demonstrating the unchangeable nature of His law.
“My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips.” Psalm 89:34
Today we can look in any direction and see that most people do not love the law of God. Peace is conspicuously absent from the world’s landscape. Jesus told us plainly that, in the last days, lawlessness will abound and, because of it, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12).
God’s law and His love are bound together in perfection. All attempts to separate them have the disastrous result of leading people astray. He created us out of His love. After sin entered onto the scene, He—in love—let our first parents know of the Savior to come. Believing Him means justification for every repentant one’s past disobedience—the slate wiped clean! The restoration of His image in us, which is sanctification, begins when the justified one continues his/her life journey with a mindset to obey the Savior as the Ruler that He is. He is Savior and Lord! This deepening commitment is too often blocked by belief in the popular error that His law has been abolished. But those who cling to the Savior in gratitude, who walk with Him daily, who feast upon His Word, who pray without ceasing . . . will find that He does some more writing, and it is very personal:
“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33 & Hebrews 10:16
In the world to come, His government will exist in the mind and heart of every citizen. Every heavenly citizen will be law-abiding. No one will desire to go against God’s perfect law!
*Let your tender mercies come to me that I may live; For Your law is my delight. Psalm 119:77