THE LOVE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“I delight in your commands because I love them” Ps 119:47

David was a “man after God’s own heart”. In Psalm 119 we see something of that heart. It’s a psalm well known as the longest of the psalms and as having for its main theme the commandments and precepts of God. It is much more, however, than a mere exhortation to obedience of those precepts. It is the overflowing expression of a heart which deeply loves those precepts, a heart that delights in the righteous ways of God, and a heart that is deeply grateful for those guiding statutes on the way to live.It's a heart in tune with God's heart.

Eight times in the psalm David uses the word “delight” in connection with the statutes and commands of God. He is delighted to read in God’s law the injunction to love his parents, keep himself from marital unfaithfulness, live at peace with others, tell the truth, keep himself from stealing, and be content with what he has. This is no “hard duty”, a pathway of life that is to be undertaken reluctantly and with gritted teeth. Neither is it an idealistic programme, an unrealistic and foolish aim in a cut throat world. It is, on the contrary, a delight. Elsewhere he says this way of life is the “joy of my heart”. He describes it as “wonderful”. He says categorically “you can keep all your money; it can never bring the delight that is given by this godly programme for real living”.

Isaiah speaks prophetically of Jesus (the greater David) in a precisely similar fashion, “He will delight in the fear of the Lord” Is. 11:3. The “fear of the Lord” is an expression linked directly in scripture to the commandments of God. This was the heart of the Son of God, therefore, a heart that delighted in God’s statutes, God’s prescribed ways for living an upright life.

Six times in Psalm 119 David uses an even stronger expression than “I delight in your law”, namely “I love your law”. In fact he says that the delight in the law comes out of his love for the law. He loves it “greatly”. To love something or someone is to pursue that object or person with dynamic eagerness. The “beloved” is the primary objective of life, and the love one feels is an overwhelming impetus in the direction of the “beloved”.

This inner “delight” and “love” of righteousness, felt at the depths of one’s being, is the real root of godly living. This and this alone, has the power to overcome all the other selfish tendencies that swarm around the human heart. This is what fills the human being with joy and satisfaction. This, to change the metaphor, is the “water of life”. It is, however, something that God alone can give. Isaiah, speaking of the delight that Jesus felt, made it clear it was there because “The Spirit of the Lord rested on Him”. Delight in and love for righteousness is an impartation of the heart of God by the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. That can only happen through full commitment to Jesus, who alone sends the Spirit.

It is this alone that is the hope for a godless, self-destructing world. It’s the hope we are called to share.

I haven’t given chapter and verse in writing of Ps. 119; may the Lord bless you if you decide to hunt down the quotes yourself.



Bob


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