41 May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O Lord,
Your salvation according to Your [o]word;
42 So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
43 And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I [p]wait for Your ordinances.
44 So I will keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever.
45 And I will walk [q]at liberty,
For I seek Your precepts.
46 I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings
And shall not be ashamed.
47 I shall [r]delight in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48 And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments,
Which I love;
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
So often, we look at God’s commands as a straightjacket, but here the psalmist tells a different story. Instead, he claims salvation by God’s word, and that he will walk at liberty because He seeks God’s precepts. Further, we see once again that he will delight in God’s commandments… “which I love.”
No one takes delight in or loves being confined, but it is our sin and our flesh that hold us in bondage. Our material desires hold us back from our true potential. Even in something as seemingly material as business (which isn’t really), we don’t get far by serving our flesh. We have to serve others, and keep our flesh in check.
It is our flesh that must be put in a straightjacket, or in fact, we must die daily in order to truly live. And that is where God’s statutes come in, for ignoring our flesh isn’t natural. If we did what felt good and what came naturally, we would be in a sorry state (too many are, and they need our prayers and compassion).
Rather, we must again learn to delight and love God’s commands, make them a part of your daily routine. In Deuteronomy, Moses wrote that the Israelites were to put the laws of God on their doorposts, gates, and even their foreheads, that His instructions would be constantly on their mind. Whether that was meant to be literal or not, the point is clear.
We cannot serve God by accident, we must be intentional. But more than just knowing God’s law, and seeing it or reading it every day, it needs to be our delight and our love. To live free, God’s word must permeate our heart, and become a part of who we are. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” That’s living, and that is true liberty.