23
2011
Delighting in the Law of the Lord
An article by 
On Tuesday mornings I wake up way too early and take part in a men’s Bible study at my church. In the course of yesterday’s time together we briefly read through Psalm 1:
1 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,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Verse two struck me yesterday, and I have been thinking about it ever since.
Over the past several years I have come into contact with a great many people who delight in the Lord. I have heard this delight take a great many forms, from questionable “blessings” (the Lord helped me go into bankruptcy) to genuine celebrations of God’s goodness (healings and restoration of marriages). And while I think that it is generally a good thing for us to delight in the Lord, the passage does not say blessed is the one who delights in the Lord… it says blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord.
In my mind, as I have been soaking on this passage, I see a huge difference between delighting in God and delighting in God’s law. On one hand, there is the idea of celebrating God… on the other there is the celebration of the discipline of God. To me, celebrating the discipline of God seems much harder. As we weather the storms of life and navigate the journey that we have been called to life is not always easy… in fact there are times when it is downright hard. It is during these times that I fall back and rely on Romans 8:28 telling me that God works all things for the good of those who are pursuing him. It is during these times that I need to remember that the man who loves the discipline of the Lord, who loves his law, is blessed.
About the Author: Matt Steen
Over the last fifteen years I have been a Church Planter, Youth Pastor, Executive Pastor, and now I serve as a Church Concierge with churchsimple.net. I love Jesus, my wife, the Redskins and Capitals and am currently living on Long Island striving to properly pronounce the word G'island.
