Psalm 119:41-48
41 May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise;
42 then I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.
44 I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.
45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
46 I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
47 for I delight in your commands because I love them.
48 I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees. [1]
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What caught my ear this morning in this passage is the psalmist’s claim that he will walk about in freedom, because he has sought out God’s precepts. Freedom, in other words, comes not from living apart from God’s commands, but rather walking in them.
This goes against the way we normally think about freedom in our culture. We think of freedom has having essentially to do with living without expectations or responsibilities. Freedom in this view is very much like what Satan offered to Eve in the garden. Become your own God. Have it your way. Just do it.
But this is not the case where God and His Word are concerned. When we are walking in the way of the Word, it is not about being fenced in, but rather a relationship with the living God. When we are walking in His way, then we are truly living as we have been created to live, and experiencing the life that our God has designed for us. Rather than being trapped in a prison of our own desires or our culture’s expectations, we instead live in the freedom of who we really are in God’s design. That is freedom.
So my prayer today is that I may walk in the Lord’s precepts, not merely keeping commands, but walking in harmony with His will. So I pray that I may experience in this way the freedom for which He gave me life.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 119:41–48). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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