“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalms 1:1-2 NIV
We live in a sinful world and our natural inclination is to want to go our own way and not be directed by God. But at the very beginning of the book of Psalms we are told that we are blessed when we don’t follow the crowd, but rather take delight in the law of God. To be Godly – to belong to him – we must find joy in His law. How do we find joy? By knowing God’s law and we come to know it by meditating on it.
The old hymn says,
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
God never wanted robots who are forced to obey. But rather He wants us to love him. “So to know how to meditate on and delight in the Bible is the secret to a relationship with God and to life itself.”[1]
Obedience to God requires discipline and intention, but discipline in our lives is not a burden but a joy. Obeying God is not to be a chore, but source of joy. Our obedience should not be out of compulsion, or begrudgingly because we have to. We don’t have to obey God, we get to.
The more we love God, the more we want and take joy in obeying him. Obeying and meditating on his law is a source of joy.
“. . . we may learn that forced or servile obedience is not at all acceptable to God, and that those only are worthy students of the law will come to it with a cheerful mind, and are so delighted with it instructions, as to account nothing more desirable or delicious and to make progress therein.”[2]
A long obedience is not a life of drudgery, but a life of joy and purpose.
In his song, “Joy in the Journey,” Michael Card sings,
There is a joy in the journey,
there’s a light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life,
and freedom for those who obey.
Jesus sad, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 1:23). God’s wish for us is to find great joy in living with him.
God is telling us what he wants for us. We will have our greatest joy when we delight in him. His desire for us, is to find great joy in knowing him!
[1] The Songs of Jesus. P. 1 (Keller, 2015)
[2] John Calvin Hearts Aflame, Daily Readings From Calvin on the Psalms. P. 1 (Calvin, 1999)
A Long Intentional Walk 