| |

Psalm 119:73 – The Creator’s Rules

Your hands made me and put me together.
Give me understanding, and I will learn your commands.

This verse starts the next eight verse section, but it’s still discussing God’s relation to us. We’ve seen God as good, and also as one who either brings or allows hardship. Now we get to the basics. God is the creator. More precisely, God is our creator.

This verse illustrates why we bring nothing we independently own to the table. We owe our very existence to God. We are not in a position to demand anything. God created it all and made all the rules. We can say that all understanding as well as all existence comes from God.

There are hints throughout the psalm that point to our dependence on God to truly carry out God’s commands. This verse points to our dependence on God even for our understanding of what those rules are.

We often debate about whether we can earn or complete any part of our salvation. In doing so we are missing this one major point. Not only can’t put God under obligation by anything we do, we can’t conceive of how to or not to do so on our own.

Does this seem oppressive? Well, as created beings we are, by definition dependent. Such independence as we have is made, fashioned, and established (all possible translations of the words of the first half of this verse) by God. Our desires are. Such freedom we have (and I believe in the power of the human will) is also a gift given by God at God’s own choice.

And we are given great freedom, which we frequently misuse, and the same sovereign, all-powerful God lets us go and do those things.

My company, Energion Publications, uses the slogan “Educate! Energize! Empower!” If you feel empowered today, remember whose gift that empowerment is.

Remember that, and enjoy the gift.

Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *