Ugh, Psalm 119. I knew it was coming in my daily readings. Honestly...I haven't been looking forward to it.
Maybe it's the fact that it's long. My appointed reading today was 8 verses. That should keep me reading this same psalm for at least two and a half weeks.
Maybe it's the fact that it hits on the same themes over and over... God's laws good, not following God's laws, bad. I get it. God already knows I'm thinking it, so I may as well admit: it gets kind of boring.
But I don't think that's it either. I think it's the content. It's my inner rebel, from a nation of rebels, who reads this psalm and wonders how anybody can get so passionate and lovey-dovey about following the rules. Going by the book. Reading the instructions. If Star Wars taught me anything, it's to resist authority. If the Lego movie taught me anything, it's to be a "ground breaker." If Lutheran theology taught me anything, it's that doing works of the law will never, ever save me. If American history taught me anything, it's that true bravery is all about "standing up to tyranny" and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and all that jazz. Not following rules.
But here's the thing: to anyone descended from Moses and the first Israelites who were delivered by God from the oppression of Pharaoh, God's law is freedom. Even going from living in the richest civilization in the world, to living hand to mouth in the desert, the people of Israel celebrate God's laws, because they know they're truly meant for their own benefit. It means they've made it to freedom, no matter where they live, because God has shown them how to live. God is not a tyrant like Pharaoh, seeing the people as a product, shifting laws on a whim. God's laws are an everlasting covenant for a free people, who value one another's freedom and dignity as much as their own. God's laws mean life. They still can't save us--only God does that--but they can protect us.
Psalm 119 still isn't my favorite, and probably never will be. But especially in a very uncertain time, in a nation whose people and leaders no longer trust each other, it helps to know we still do have a way of life that really does lead to life.
God...thank you for your laws. I love them. There, I said it. Amen.
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