Everlasting Law

Psalm 119:145-152 

Qoph

 ¹⁴⁵ I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD,
       and I will obey your decrees. 
 ¹⁴⁶ I call out to you; save me
       and I will keep your statutes.
 ¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
       I have put my hope in your word.
 ¹⁴⁸ My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
       that I may meditate on your promises.
 ¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
       preserve my life, O LORD, according to your laws.
 ¹⁵⁰ Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
       but they are far from your law.
 ¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, O LORD,
       and all your commands are true.
 ¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your statutes
       that you established them to last forever.

God's laws are designed to last forever.

There are many good points in this passage, but the one that really stood out to me is the one found in verse 152. That point is the one I highlighted above in that the statutes (laws) of God were designed to be everlasting. The reason this point stood out from the rest is most likely because I have also been studying the book of Romans (which some of you probably are doing as well). I won't go into depth regarding Romans, but as many of you know, there are quite a few people who misuse that book of the Bible to say things that aren't true. The big one being that the Law of God was done away with at the cross. Verse 152 stands in direct contradiction to that argument.

If God's statutes were established to last forever, than why would He do away with them after a few thousand years, which are nothing compared with eternity? The closest illustration I can think of would be if those responsible for the Hoover Dam, a structure that was designed to last a very long time, were to suddenly decide that it should be destroyed. No doubt people would think that they were crazy. Yet, sadly, this is how many view God and His laws. To think that He would do away with something that was established to last forever is to think that He is impulsive at best.

I know this may be an oversimplification of the matter, but then again that may only be in contrast to people's tendency to over complicate things. God designed for His laws to last forever, and that is exactly how we should view them.

Time to Act

Psalm 119:121-128 

Ayin

 ¹²¹ I have done what is righteous and just;
       do not leave me to my oppressors. 
 ¹²² Ensure your servant's well-being;
       let not the arrogant oppress me.
 ¹²³ My eyes fail, looking for your salvation,
       looking for your righteous promise.
 ¹²⁴ Deal with your servant according to your love
       and teach me your decrees.
 ¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me discernment
       that I may understand your statutes.
 ¹²⁶ It is time for you to act, O LORD;
       your law is being broken.
 ¹²⁷ Because I love your commands
       more than gold, more than pure gold,
 ¹²⁸ and because I consider all your precepts right,
       I hate every wrong path.

We must know when to act and when we should leave the actions to God.

Even though I quoted the entire ayin section above, I will focus mainly on verse 126. The psalmist, as we can ascertain from reading the rest of the psalm, was a person who had a close relationship with God, and had very high esteem for His law. Even though much of Psalm 119 is devoted to talking about the psalmist's actions in regards to the law, such is not the case in verse 126. Here the psalmist states that it is time for God to act, not himself. That is an attitude that we all should spend more time developing.

Too many people have the mentality that they should be defenders of the faith. I did a simple word search for the word "defend" and found only one reference that talked about a human being defending the gospel. The rest were either God defending us or us defending other people.

What I get out of this is that we should spend less time thinking about how to defend God and His law from attackers, and spend more time thinking about how to proclaim His message to a dying world. God and His Word have stood the test of time well before we came on the scene. He is much better at defending such attacks than we could ever be. So with this in mind, let us remember that there are times when we should act and there are times when we should leave the actions to God.

More Intelligent

Psalm 119:97-104 

Mem

 ⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
       I meditate on it all day long. 
 ⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
       for they are ever with me.
 ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
       for I meditate on your statutes.
 ¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders,
       for I obey your precepts.
 ¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path
       so that I might obey your word.
 ¹⁰² I have not departed from your laws,
       for you yourself have taught me.
 ¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
       sweeter than honey to my mouth!
 ¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
       therefore I hate every wrong path.

Attention students, obeying God's law makes you more intelligent.

Upon reading my previous statement, you may say, "Sure, obeying God's law can make me more intelligent regarding God's law, but I'm studying _________." My reply to that is that obedience to God's law makes you more intelligent in all fields, and here's why.

I operate off the concept that obeying His law makes a person more at peace. To truly obey His law is to come into close contact with Him and His character. To come in contact with His character means to have a greater sense of His love for us, and that gives us peace. Many researchers have discovered (and many of us know from personal experience) that emotional stress often inhibits memory function. So the stress reduction that comes from a close relationship with God enables to remember what we have studied. However, this psalm deals with more than simply an increase in academic knowledge.

This psalm deals with such intangibles as wisdom, insight, and understanding, which involve how we use the knowledge that we have. So not only will obeying God's law makes us more intelligent, but we will have greater wisdom, insight, and understanding, which as many of us have found is often a greater help than simply knowing facts and figures.

Have doubts that this works, try it out for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good, and you will not be disappointed.