His Commandments, they are life!

Glory! His commandments! They are life! They are grace made manifest!

I have had just a great time sifting through the word this week, each morning after arising and before working and when going to bed it has been so juicy, I have had to put newspaper on the floor. Every day I have thought of stuff I should stick on my blog or write an email about and now its Friday night and I am trying to decide what items to take out of my cart so I can get through the nine items or less line to share on Sunday morning. “You should see what I left behind in isle three..”

His truth endures, by his light we see light. I have written nothing because God has kept me hopping with work all week. Estimates and research for customers in the evening has left me no scribbling time. Praise God again!

But let me say this. I have been use to thinking that the old covenant was us, under the Law, and the new covenant was under grace. But how I have understood it, was not what the word meant.

Rob has been mining a nice stream of thought about how we grab a proof verse to back up some position, and miss looking for Gods heart behind an issue. The proof verse method, usually leaves scripture contending against other scripture. So you wind up either saying certain verses are no longer operative, or were cultural, and sometimes we are just are plain ignorant. My hand is up :)

(Wilson illistrates what that looks like here.)

God giving us his law, was an act of grace to us too! Everything God does interacting with man is always a form of his grace. We were under the Law. But no man was ever called to live “under” the law as we prisoners of modernity think of it. It was more like being under the shelter of Gods wing, the call was to live “in it” in submission to God, that ye might have life.. I see this all over the place in psalms.

33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Deut 5:32-33 (KJV)

That ye may live… God says what he commanded was life. …That you may live…. When God says something is life, or that, by this you may live, it doesn’t mean that other choices are less life. He isn’t saying “ here is one way to live amongst many, and this is one I am just throwing out there to get you going,” to prime the pump as it were.

There is no neutral ground the word says, you are with me or against me, you gather or you scatter. When told… Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live… to deviate from what God says will bring life or by this you will live, is to choose death. Anything other than Gods way, will lead to pain, corruption, death. His way, is not one of many ways, it is the only way, for life more abundant.

He showed the how, that it might be well with us, that we may prolong our days.
Does not the scriptures say, his commandments are wisdom and understanding for his people, the psalms declare that all the ways of the lord are righteous. All his ways!
Every supposition, every starting point needs to see Our God as he is, as a God of merciful loving kindness,(see ex34:6,7) all scripture needs to be examined with this as part of the background. Or we will twist and pervert the meaning of his word. We can impart meaning to his word that takes his name in vain.

Next time you are reading through psalms, watch for it, they wanted to live in it, it was life. I have been so pagan in my thinking, for so long that I saw Gods commandments for life as a burden, in direct contradiction to his word saying that they are not a burden!
How dare I call myself by His name and deny what his word says!

I repent, from making hocking sounds at Gods word.

Thank you for praying for my family, for it is God who gives one the ability to make wealth. The real wealth has come in the morning and late in the evening, meditating on his word, that ye may live. Part2