I love this passage so much. It shows two things clearly: a right understanding of God’s law and a right heart-response to it.

In short: God’s law is infinitely good for us. It protects us, blesses us, makes us wise, and brings success. Therefore, the right response to God’s law (in light, too, of our inability to follow it on our own) is to simply say, “God please help.”

Father, I pray that you would burn a true understanding of your law on my heart and help me to seek righteousness out of love for you and faith in your goodness.

Delight in God’s goodness to you today.

Psalm 119:91-93 (NLT)

⁹¹ Your regulations remain true to this day,
for everything serves your plans.
⁹² If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy,
I would have died in my misery.
⁹³ I will never forget your commandments,
for by them you give me life.

I think something that often amazes me about David and something, too, that I find pretty convicting is how David really, truly rejoiced in God’s commands. It’s easy to rejoice in God’s blessing, God’s mercy, God’s grace, etc. But, I think for many, God’s commands seem… oh… difficult.

David didn’t feel this way at all. In the above passage he writes that God’s instructions sustained him with joy! Do we find JOY in God’s commands? Do we find joy to the point where it sustains us in misery? I’d say not probably for most of us.

Something David understood very clearly and something I think we’d do well to understand is that God’s commands to us are given out of His love. He loves us without fail always and therefore He has shown us how we should live to experience the best life. His commands are not arbitrary or meaningless, but rather for our benefit and protection. In my life I have found it takes faith to believe this at times, but experience has also proven it true.

If you’re interested more in this, read Psalm 19 as well.

As I was categorizing this post, I saw my category for legalism. It made me think: If we understand that God’s commands come out of his love for us, it blows legalism out of the water. We don’t obey to be good enough for God, but rather we obey to submit ourselves to His love! Very different.