Delight

The Psalmist writes that the "man's" delight is in the Law of the Lord.  What does David know that I don't?  Reid writes that being inside the Law is like being inside a fence and that there is freedom in that.  I like that language.  It makes me comfortable.  However, it seems like I tend to be more in the free range mode most of the time.  I like the concept of the fence, but more often than not, in my human flesh, it is no fence.  It is a cage.  And maybe not just a cage.  It is like the garbage pit in the Star Wars movie that closes in, drowning me in my sin and selfishness. 


Luther speaks of the Law this way..."the Law reveals an angry God." 


We can never satisfy the Law even with our best efforts and intentions.  We can never stay within its confines despite our greatest vows that we would do that very thing.  We try and fail and attempt and lose. 


And yet, David writes of the Law in delightful terms.  He finds comfort day and night in meditation, study, and prayer.  What does he know?


He knows what all Christians know.  A sure and delightful confidence that the Law is the exercise of faith, not of intention.  The ancient Israelites imitated sacrifices with the opinion that they would by some means appease God.  However, "no works ease the conscience."  Luther's insistence on the Gospel pushed him to understand the Law in a different way.  Repentance, (which David knew well--see Bathsheba), was the highest form of worship.  To come to the only one who could and did offer forgiveness was the place where the Law was satisfied.  Augustine says, "All God's commandments are fulfilled when whatever is not done is forgiven."  And there comes the delight.  There comes the beautiful fence that God has designed for us.  There comes not the garbage compactor, but the outdoor cathedral where the Christian thrives.  Though are lives may be mottled with sin by trying to escape at times, every time...EVERY TIME...the Christian is promised the forgiveness of sins because of the Christ.  The empty tomb, which was a demonic fence for Jesus, was shattered by the power of Christ's love for us.


And so, now, we can hear Jesus say "I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture."  John 10:7-9.


The Law is good for what it is--an exercise of faith to show to others in order to invite them to believe.  But if it is not seen by faith, the only thing that is seen is an angry God.  By faith, we see the loving Christ who fulfilled it.  That's something in which I can delight.