Psalm 119:129-136 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 119:129-136 on biblegateway.com
Verse 129Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.
Verse 130The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
Verse 131With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.
Verse 132Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.
Verse 133Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
Verse 134Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.
Verse 135Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.
Verse 136My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept.
Devotion
"There I was completely wasting, out of work and down
all inside it's so frustrating as I drift from town to town
feel as though nobody cares if I live or die
so I might as well begin to put some action in my life. Breaking the Law"
-"Breaking the Law," Judas Priest
"My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not kept." (NRSV, v.136)
With apologies to the group Judas Priest, I'm not so sure they get the point of the law. The law just is. There is no real way around it. God's purposes for us are consistently found in the law. But, we are sinners. And the law drives us to see that God has the interest of the whole world at stake. The problem isn't so much the law, as the problem is us and our continual want to break the law in order to try and make things better for ourselves. This is folly, however, because no matter how hard we try, we will always fall short in this endeavor.
But this is the law's true purpose, to get us to despair in our works and to lay ourselves humbly before God in Christ. It is at the foot of the cross that we see that God turns to us and is gracious to us, and we see God's face shining upon us.
Prayer
Almighty God, help us to lay aside our need to save ourselves and rely on Your grace to save us. Amen.