“My
soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your Word. My eyes fail
from searching Your Word, saying, ‘When will You comfort me?’” Psalm 119:81-82
The
praise of the Law is strange for Christians who rely instead on St. Paul’s
words: “We are not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
This is, I think, a simple understanding of “law” as nothing more than a list
of rules, things we must not do. When we understand “law” in its broadest
terms, however, especially when we understand the Law as The Word of The Lord,
we find treasure we never knew existed. And when we embrace the whole
Word – rather than a series of words carefully selected to suit our own
purposes – we find the “comfort” the psalmist was searching for.
Our
parents had rules we were expected to abide by; and although we often rebelled
against those rules as we grew older and bolder, we also discovered not only
consequences for violation of those rules but reasons for the very existence of
these rules. We learned from these rules many useful lessons that would
inform us well into adulthood. We discovered not restrictions but a parent’s
love for us and a concern for our well-being.
That
is the whole of the Word today just as it was then. Jesus didn’t dismiss
the Law; He taught from that Law (in Hebrew it is Torah). In fact
He personified that Law as “the Word which became flesh”. It is this same
Word from which salvation comes; fully trusting in the Word as a Father’s love
for us and a concern for our well-being – both today and in the world to come.
We
must not dismiss the Law nor should we excuse ourselves in the name of “grace”,
for grace is found within the Torah itself when we see the imperfections of
those written of in the Scripture still used to build a Nation (Israel). Torah
is not strictly a list of rules (and certainly not only Ten). It is the
very Way of Life as Jesus Himself is the Way.
Blessings,
Michael
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