A Thought

“Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, and teach me Your statutes.  I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.” Psalm 119:124-125

By what seems to be expressed by the psalmist, the Law, the statutes, and the testimonies are much more than mere words written on a page.  It is not enough to “shalt not”; it requires Divine Wisdom from His mercy for us to understand WHY we “shalt not”.  The entire Torah (which, translated, actually means “directions” or “instructions” rather than “law”) is written not for our destruction or to keep us from having fun and enjoying our lives, but is rather revealed to us for the sake of building up a community of the faithful.  The Law teaches the Lord’s people how to live together and interact together as the Lord’s people.  The Law is the revelation of the Lord, too, so that the community can know who the Lord is and why He cares for them.

It is important for Christians to understand that Jesus as the “Word” cannot be separated from Torah.  The Gospels do not contradict what was already written but rather fulfill what was to come according to “the law and the prophets”.  Just as Jesus teaches that Satan cannot stand against himself (a house divided), neither can Jesus be separated from the Word (the law AND the prophecies).  But because we have taken to heart some fond sayings based on one or two small verses from the New Testament giving us excuse from the Law, the world cannot tell the difference between the Lord’s people and the evil one’s people.  A few cheesy blurbs on Facebook or other social media sites or e-mail really do not go far if we are profaning the Sabbath in the same breath and by the same hands.

It is the Lord’s wisdom that teaches us “why”, but it is our determination and willful desire to live in community as the Lord’s people (the pursuit of sanctification, of holiness) that drive the faithful to bother asking the questions.  If we do not care to know or if we prefer to make it up as we go along according to what pleases us, however, we will never know.

Blessings,

Michael