Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: law

  • Psalm 119:135 – Shine

    Psalm 119:135 – Shine

    Let your face shine on your servant;
    teach me your statutes.

    I have tended to stick with more formal translation, but the first line here could be translated, “Look on your servant with favor.” Part of that favor includes teaching statutes.

    I’ve said a few times that we don’t really tend to look at rules as a blessing. What’s very interesting is that we will look at stability that favors us as a blessing, while often ignoring the fact that it is a set of rules that provides that stability.

    In church, this frequently comes up when we want the freedom to worship or to accomplish whatever goals. We chafe at rules that prevent us from operating freely and creatively. Then when someone goes too far out of our church’s traditions, we get upset. “They can’t do that in our church,” we say. Then we pull out the rule book and hopefully find a rule that will keep them in line.

    We also tend not to notice when our rules get in the way of other people. This contributes to the widespread complains about Home Owners’ Associations. You can easily find reams of complaints about HOAs online. Yet there are HOAs all over the place. Personally, I suspect I would avoid a neighborhood with an HOA. I don’t like that type of thing.

    But what makes HOAs so common, while also making complaints about them ubiquitous? Well, we each have our own taste in what makes a home look friendly, good, or respectable. The HOA gets together and makes rules that they think will keep property values up and make their neighborhood look attractive. I drive through such neighborhoods and think, “I’d really hate to live here. Everything looks the same.”

    This illustrates how we look at rules. Often we don’t even consider the rules until they get in our way. Then we are suddenly irate about them. But one of the reasons other people were able to make rules that annoy you is that you weren’t paying attention when the rules were made.

    It’s important to know what God’s rules are. This is not just so we know the rules to keep, but also so that we know what are not God’s rules, but rather matters of choice and preference. As Christians, we often have a set of rules that are unwritten, but that “everyone knows.” When someone new comes to church, they learn by experience, often unpleasant experience, what the church requires.

    At the same time many members think their own preferences are the equivalent of Divine rules. Dress and behavior in worship is one area. The line from Paul, “Let everything be done decently and in order” is a scripture that has been applied in many inappropriate ways. People use it to forbid clapping in church (it’s irreverent), or to suggest that the pastor has to carefully follow every word of the bulletin.

    Those are not God’s rules. They’re rules we make and then blame God for. In fact, when we make our own rules, in any case where we are not simply applying a Divine rule, we’re violating God’s rules, claiming God has spoken when God has done no such thing.

    My prayer would be that all believers would take this verse to heart. Let’s aim to know what God’s statutes are, and thus what God’s statutes are not.

    In what ways can you avoid imposing your preferences as rules?

  • Psalm 119:129 – My Soul Keeps Them

    Psalm 119:129 – My Soul Keeps Them

    Your testimonies are wonderful,
    so my soul keeps them.

    The Revised English Bible uses “gladly keep” for “my soul keeps.” The image here is of keeping from inside, from what you are and desire. Non-formal English translations avoid the literal rendering of “my soul” in doing various things, but the idea there is “from the heart” or “from inside.” In this case the NLT uses “No wonder I obey them,” which doesn’t seem to me to quite get the intent of “my soul.”

    It’s interesting, however, that in the magnificat (Luke 1:46), the NLT does use “soul,” with “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.” I think the idea of my soul praising the Lord comes more easily from tongue and pen to a modern writer or translator than the idea of having an inward love of the law.

    There’s another side to this. We tend to feel that it’s somehow more pious and holy to do something just because God said to do it. Similarly, we often praise children for obeying their parents without questioning. A child who hears a command, thinks about it, and then does it because they think it’s a good idea, doesn’t seem all that obedient.

    But ultimately God’s law should work out logically. That doesn’t mean we understand everything about it. It does mean that we should think about the ways in which God’s laws are wonderful. A good exercise is to take a law you accept by faith, for example, a command from your Bible, and work to present it as a good and rational thing to someone who doesn’t share your faith.

    You’re getting somewhere if you can do this without rationalization or special pleading. Ultimately, however, if we believe God’s word created the universe and ordains all those laws which provide order, we should be able to present them as a good thing. They are not just wonderful because we think they are God’s laws. They stand testimony to God by being recognizable as wonderful.

    Try looking at things you do today. Can whatever makes you do these be regarded as wonderful? Or are they a burden?

  • Psalm 119:128 – All

    Psalm 119:128 – All

    Therefore I completely keep all your precepts.
    I hate every false way.

    I think I say something about how many ways one could go in meditating on each of these verses, and I certainly could. Today I’m thinking about this line especially from a Christian perspective.

    I recall a young man coming to my door with his wife and his KJV Bible in hand, intending to convert me. It did not bother him that I was already a Christian. It was his duty to straighten out my theology in a hurry. Among the various things he told me was that the Sermon on the Mount did not apply to Christians in the “church age.” It was for the Jews and for a special transitional stage between the old covenant and the new covenant.

    Our discussion roamed through the New Testament. Passages from Hebrew Scriptures were not of importance to him. I think we spent more than an hour not communicating with one another.

    As he got up to leave he said he was worried about my salvation. “I have given you nothing but Scripture but you haven’t given me any scripture at all.” He paused. “Well, except for Matthew, and Hebrews, and James, and they don’t count.”

    Now when I read the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew, I find sentiments that fit with this passage. Not only is Jesus saying to keep all the law all the time, but he’s asking us to keep the law in our hearts. If one is angry at someone that person is guilty of murder.

    I can see why someone would want to dismiss the whole thing as applying to someone else. Big sigh of relief! It sounds pretty holy, but I don’t have to do any of it.

    We often talk and act as though the big problem with Israel was that they had too many laws or that they were too intent on keeping them. That misses the point that God gave Israel all those laws. God said they should keep all those laws. Leviticus (19:2 and other places) says to “be holy for I (the LORD) am holy.” Matthew 5 doesn’t back off from this, saying that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and then in 5:48 “Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.”

    Old Testament or new, there is nowhere in scripture where God’s plan is not a plan to create a holy people. The thing we need to catch on to, and bluntly, that I think the psalmist has 100% is this: God’s call is for completely keeping all the commandments, while at the same time, he recognizes in many other verses that it is only through God’s power that this is accomplished.

    I’m again going to refer to the last verse, sort of a spoiler! “I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant….” Note that it does not say, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Your laws are too tough, give me an excuse.” He does not say, “I have gone astray, please fix the map so it records that I am on course.

    There is a glorious purpose to which God calls us all, and to which only God can bring us. We can’t attain this, but God can. And God promises to do precisely that.

    Keep your eye on the goal. All * Completely.

  • Psalm 119:126 – Time to Act

    Psalm 119:126 – Time to Act

    It’s time to act, LORD.
    They’ve set your law aside.

    I’ve talked about waiting and patience a few times, so let’s look at the second part of this verse.

    How can one set God’s law, or any law, aside?

    We usually think of simply breaking the law, a sort of binary choice. I’m either doing it or not. And of course, that is one sort of lawlessness. I know what the law is. I have the power to do the right thing, and I choose to do the wrong thing instead. That certainly happens!

    But there are a few other ways to set the law aside, or make it void.

    We can trim around the edges of the law. A common way of doing this is to discuss what limit the state troopers are actually enforcing. Can you get by with 5 miles over the speed limit? 10 miles? You’ll see occasional arguments online about this. Inevitably, there will be an officer in the discussion who says he doesn’t actually have any margin for grace. If you’re speeding, you’re speeding!

    I observed this driving through Ohio way back when the dinosaurs roamed and I was in graduate school. Someone had told me that the Ohio cops didn’t have any margin on enforcement, so I stuck straight to the speed limit. A few miles into the state another car crawled past me. He couldn’t have been doing more than a couple miles over, but in a couple minutes there came the flashing lights as the trooper sped past me and soon I saw the slight speeder at the side of the road.

    I congratulated myself on my great intelligence and waited until the next state to speed up.

    But there are other ways we can make the law void. Another way is to load people down with laws and regulations until it’s pretty certain that no matter how hard they try, they’ll be violating the law at some point. Once you get there, people realize they can’t be completely in the clear no matter what, and they become careless about keeping even more important laws.

    You can also have the attitude of self-righteousness in which you’re convinced that you must keep the law, and that you’re a good person, so you’re doing it. How does this work? You reduce the actual laws to a level that you can. You grade yourself on an imaginary curve.

    All of these tend to result in a certain amount of lawlessness, and when carried far enough can be destructive of a family, a community, or a nation. Laws are important, but they are very much subject to misuse and abuse, often by the people who ought to be upholding them.

    With the psalmist, we can call on God. It’s time to act! People are setting your instructions aside and substituting their own.

    How can you live constructively in relation to the laws that you know?

  • Psalm 119:124 – Grace

    Psalm 119:124 – Grace

    Deal graciously with your servant
    and teach me your statutes.

    I’m going to use the words of this verse, written long before there was such a thing as a Christian, to discuss a peculiarly Christian issue: Sanctification.

    Sanctification is a long word for becoming or being made holy, and “holy” is a word that we’re often not that sure about, though we act like we are. We can have a high concept of our own holiness, which usually manifests itself as self-righteousness. “Look how holy I am! I’m closer to God than you are!”

    We quote or paraphrase Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace that you are saved and not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But at the same time we have a picture of what a good Christian should be, and we’re quick to judge other people who don’t fit into our vision of Christian behavior.

    The result is that we’re often judging our salvation and that of others based on our perception of their holiness, or on what they have done. This is the unfortunate result of us being afraid to talk about works lest people think we’re basing our salvation on our works.

    But look at this verse. The word I’ve translated “graciously” is more literally (and commonly) translated “lovingkindness,” which is God’s love given to us. I think “graciously” gets the point. So when God deals graciously with us, what does God do?

    God teaches us statutes, rules to live by.

    You see, salvation is not just a gift of getting out of whatever nasty results we can expect in the next lives based on our behavior. It’s not a “get out of hell free card.” Well, actually it is, but it’s so very much more. And you can see the same divine approach with Israel. Israel is called to be God’s people. They become God’s people not because of something they’ve done. Passages from Genesis 12 when Abraham is called through Deuteronomy emphasize this.

    The rules come afterward. What is their purpose? Their purpose is to produce a holy people. That’s the plan. So I guess we ought to get busy and get this sanctification thing done, right?

    Not even close. Becoming a holy people is also God’s gift, which starts with the gracious gift of God’s law, carefully packaged to fit the circumstances of those who receive it. “Be holy for I am holy,” is repeated over and over in Leviticus. It’s a call, but the call is to receive the gift. When King David is called to be a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), it is not because he as done everything perfectly, or because he will lead a perfect life, but rather because he will be open to God and allow God to work in and through him.

    “Teach me your statutes” is a call to the one who empowers everything in the universe to empower one’s own life.

    What can God do in you today?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    Psalm 119:109 – Risky

    My life is in my hands continually,
    yet I do not forget your instruction.

    What I’d like to say, and first thought about saying was that it might be better to say, “My life is in my hands, so I don’t forget that you, God, are in charge.”

    The fact is, however, that we need to remember God’s instruction(s). I want to emphasize, as always, that it is not on the basis of keeping up with God’s instructions that we become part of the family of God. But we have a need to make good decisions at all times, and the time when we are most likely to forget what we have learned from God’s instructions is when we are most at risk.

    This morning, Jody had a problem with her heart. It scared me. I got very tense. I had a hard time making decisions. I forgot to pray. Part of the time I forgot to think. And it wasn’t even one of the worst moments we’ve had over the last few years. Talking to a few people helped me settle down. Praying helped settle me down. (I frequently note that prayer is much more about changing me than about changing my circumstances.)

    Now Jody is fine, though I’m still a bit nervous. But it was precisely during that time when I’m watching numbers related to her health and thinking they’re not going where they’re supposed to that I need to remember God’s instructions.

    Now you may be wondering where in the Bible I find something about how to deal with pulse rates, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and such things. No, there is not a book of “Cardiac Care.” The idea is to find a way of thinking, a way in which I can process problems. I then need to apply that way of thinking to various problems.

    We talk a lot about breaking bad habits. I think we need to talk more about developing good habits. Good habits set you up to do the right thing when the wrong thing happens.

    I recall reading in Jacob Milgrom’s 3 volume (2200 pages!) commentary on Leviticus, that the Torah has clearly been written as a teaching tool. (I paraphrase from memory.) I didn’t really understand that until I took a group of Christian young people to visit a Synagogue for their Religious Education, which was on Sunday morning. A Rabbi talked to the young people I had brought together with theirs.

    On this occasion, he chose to talk about the command that is found in Exodus 34:26(b) and elsewhere, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” This refers, of course to a baby goat. Not quite as astonishing. But yet you may ask why such a law would exist.

    Well, in Judaism, the Rabbi told us, this was where the rules on eating meat and dairy products together came from. The young people were generally mystified. What good is this rule? Why should anyone keep such a law? What’s the purpose?

    The Rabbi explained that this is a rule that tells us we have a choice in what we do. We are not subject to our passions in all things. We can choose to live one way and not another. I deduce that you put this rule into practice in order to become accustomed to doing things according to rules, that you have a habit of following rules.

    I think that’s the point of remembering God’s Torah, or instruction. When it becomes a question of life or death, when decisions are coming at you faster than you can handle them, when you don’t know the way out you have a way in which you think of things.

    I was discussing a decision with a friend some years ago, looking at two courses of action. Both appeared acceptable, but I was uncertain which one to take. Then ethics took hold and I suddenly saw that one of the courses of action would likely lead to things I knew were wrong. I hadn’t seen certain consequences. Suddenly I knew. Only one choice was in accordance with God’s instruction.

    What instruction from God will guide you at a moment of decision?

  • Psalm 119:98 – Wiser

    Psalm 119:98 – Wiser

    Your commands have made me wiser than my enemies,
    for they are mine forever.

    There’s an interesting translation issue here as well, as there often is with poetry. The first part of the verse uses a plural “commands,” but the second half uses a singular. Most translations, starting way back with the Septuagint accommodate the first to the second, using a singular. I think it is more likely that the singular in the second half is intended as collective.

    One of the great values of God’s revelation to us is good ideas. This may sound weak. We want to make lots of pious statements about scripture and God’s law(s), such as that they are eternal, authoritative, beyond human capacity. All these things may be true, but in elevating the law we can also miss its simple value.

    I’m reminded of how I sometimes answer the question “How are you?” with “Functional.” Frequently I’m then asked, “Oh! What’s wrong?” Well, I thought “functional” was pretty good! It’s much better than not functional.

    Thus with God’s law. There are some great theological points to be made, but in some cases we need to just look at the value of law in general and of the order that allows us to function. I’ve been emphasizing the more general idea of revelation, beyond rules. But we should stop and consider the value of rules.

    Again I’m reminded of the humorous statement; 186,000 miles per second: It’s not just a good idea, it’s the law! The fact that there are constants like this in the universe is, to put it very mildly, critical! There are also things that are critical to living well and constructively as humans.

    Laws are wise when they prevent things from going wrong. Good traffic laws, for example, save lives, and facilitate people getting where they need to go in predictable lengths of time. When these things don’t happen, we’ll talk about bad laws or ineffective enforcement.

    It’s quite possible to have bad laws. Bad laws make things function less effectively. (Amazing, I know!)

    I’d suggest that when we properly understand God’s laws, we’ll find the laws that function best in the universe God created. This is the simple message of our verse. God’s laws are wise laws, and by making them ours we gain wisdom. It’s an eternal gift from God.

    Look today for ways to handle your life that reflect God’s law. You won’t attain this perfectly, but you’ll be blessed by looking in that direction.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:89 – Word in Heaven

    Psalm 119:89 – Word in Heaven

    Forever, LORD, your Word
    is established in heaven.

    This is an important verse to start the next section (Lamedh), and also the second half of the psalm.

    Too often we diminish the idea of God’s Word by making it the equivalent of the written words that we have. This is sometimes presented as great respect for those written words, making them more important, but I believe the effect is the opposite.

    In scripture (that written word), we have a much broader, deeper, and higher idea of what God’s word actually is. I have been seeing in various verses in this Psalm the idea that the law, as understood in this psalm is a presentation to us of who God really is. The word/words we have here are derived from that heavenly word. The instructions God gives through story, poetry, and yes, laws, are derived from who God is.

    If we extend this to points made more directly in other psalms, that the Word is all-encompassing. Psalm 33:6-9 tells us that the worlds were made by God’s Word.

    Psalm 119 can be seen as a celebration of the creator of the universe, expressed in the form of God’s various ways of relating to us in that universe. In ancient near eastern thought, one of the key elements of creation was bring order to chaos, making things work in a way that would allow life, even good life. Chaos was the product of God’s enemies.

    In Genesis 1, this order is produced by God speaking. That symbolism is important. God’s simple command brought order. God’s authority is presented as the result of God’s creative power, and after that from God’s redemptive power, which is also an aspect of God’s creative power.

    Try meditating today on the fact that each thing you have is a gift. Be grateful!

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:68 – Doing Good

    Psalm 119:68 – Doing Good

    You are good, and you act in goodness.
    Teach me your statutes.

    If you find the turn from God’s goodness, to “teach me your statutes,” you may not have been following the Psalm thus far. One of the themes here is the value of God’s self-revelation in the form of laws and instructions.

    The Septuagint (LXX) of this verse transfers the second instance of good, the active one, to the second part of the verse: “You are good, and in your goodness teach me your statutes.” This makes the teaching function of the law part of the goodness of God.

    The parallel terms of the verse apply “goodness” to God’s statutes. This is not the way we usually think of goodness. Rules are annoying things you have to live with. They are not blessings for which we should be grateful.

    This is a very human response. Just consider our response to traffic laws. If a cop stops us and gives us a ticket, we’re complaining about the stupid laws and generally feeling much put on. If there’s a really slow speed limit in a neighborhood, we’ll often complain that it is ridiculously slow. If we lived in that neighborhood, however, we’d likely be advocating for slow speed limits and effective enforcement.

    8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

    Deuteronomy 4:8 (NRSVue, quoted from BibleGateway)

    This is one of the most difficult “heart” things. It is hard to regard the law as a blessing while at the same time realizing we are not perfect. Far from it! But the law itself is a call to greatness, a greatness that is a gift of God and not a personal achievement.

    Try to think of a rule today that is a real blessing in your life. Do you keep that rule?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:64

    Psalm 119:64

    LORD, Your lovingkindness fills the earth.
    Teach me your statutes.

    “Lovingkindness” could also be translated “grace” or “favor.” It covers a lot of ground. It also refers to obligations fulfilled under a covenant. When we think of it that way, we should remember that God has voluntarily created a covenant with us. Any obligations God takes on are a gift!

    It’s easy to miss the power of a verse like this. In very simple form it expresses an important theme of scripture. I’ve referred to it earlier in this series. Grace comes before law.

    We frequently preach and teach this in the opposite order. We preach about getting cleaned up so that we can be acceptable to God. We have to be good enough. Then we can come to God and find favor.

    Or we may preach salvation, becoming a child of God as something that is by grace, and then follow it with a rat race to be good enough. This isn’t an exclusively New Testament theme as some Christians think. We often don’t have the patience to read and understand the Bible Jesus knew, so we miss what’s going on.

    7 “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

    Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (NRSVue)

    It is clear that God’s choice comes first, but especially if you read further in the context, it is God’s purpose to make the chosen people a holy people. But again, this comes through God’s action.

    If we are preachers, teachers, or leaders in the church we need to make sure to keep this order in mind. If we look at the biblical standards, making ourselves meet those standards is a daunting task. Impossible, in fact. If we push those standards as a matter of making ourselves acceptable to God we’re going to create a raft of problems. What we won’t make is holy people.

    Self-sanctification is a common belief, and it is the root of all kinds of evil. On the one hand, those who can’t imagine their actual problems decide that they are, in fact, holy. We use the term self-righteousness, and that’s precisely what it is. It’s a meeting of self-made standards. Ungratefulness, judgment, relentless criticism, discouragement, and even despair follow all this.

    But God’s grace fills the earth, even the universe. Teaching us how to live is a blessing that comes because God loves us not so that God can love us. In that context, the laws, which are the very order of our universe, are a gift of God. Those laws make it possible for us to exist. They hold off total chaos. In fact, we can come to see those laws as a reflection of the character of the God we serve and a joy.

    We should also note that a God who provides us with such grace is unlikely to mandate or to bless ungracious behavior. A God who is love is asking us to love one another.

    “Teach us your statutes” becomes the story of a life of faith, blessed by God, with glory to come.

    As you live your blessed life today, consider the statutes of God that define it and make it possible.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)