Love the Law, Love Jesus.

Scripture:
Psalm 1:2
"...but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Observation:

This is the first of the Psalms. The psalmist essentially differentiates between good and bad; righteousness and wicked.  The beginning of the sentence that ends in verse 2 is pretty basic blessed men do not follow the advice of the wicked. Duh.  He does not stand 'in the way' of sinners, which after reading a parallel means stand the WAY that they stand, nor does a righteous man sit in the seat of scoffers.  All pretty basic stuff. These are all don'ts. In verse 2 we find the DO. A righteous man delights in the lord and meditates on it day and night. Whoa.

Application:

I often feel like the law holds us back. We always say "being a Christian wasn't meant to be easy" and sure that's all fine, but here the Psalmist is basically saying LOVE the law. I'm definitely not in that place.  This following interpretation may not be theologically correct so I'll fix it eventually, but the only reason I could feel that I would ever delight in the law is the remembering that the law is there for a specific purpose.  Now being New-Testament believers (Christians), we understand that the law was how they got close to God but really it wasn't enough and so God sent Jesus to fully bridge the gap.  Hence, loving the law of the Lord is the same as loving the commands of Jesus. Again, the reason we must love these things we often see as constraints is that they bring us closer to His heart and Himself.  This is hard without the second part, and the part that I'm hoping to apply.  Meditating or reflecting on the law day/night/all the time, I'll get to know more about why that 'Christian behaviour' helped me in the long run. Maybe then I'll understand. Maybe then I'll appreciate the law.  Challenge made! Reflect on why I do what I do (more often that I do, maybe even at set times).  Appreciate the law. Learn to love it.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly father,

I want to quickly thank you for the first night of Alive camp.  Personally I'm just so excited to know that these young people are making the memories that can root them in you for years to come. They'll have that moment, that ancient path that will remind them why they came to you in the first place.  Many people, myself included, will knock the 'revival' or 'experiential' conversions but they serve their purpose. Anyway yes. Thank you father for it. I also want to thank you for bridging the gap to you through your san. I pray that I thankfully follow his commands no matter how initially constrained I feel because I know full well that You have your ways. I want to know them Lord, help me understand, help me appreciate every aspect of what You do for us.  In Your name I pray,

Amen.