Desire and Despair

Oh, that my ways were steadfast in keeping your statutes!

Psalm 119.5

Here is a heartfelt plea if ever there was one! It could be my own heart cry. “If only I were wired to live the way the Lord wants me to, the way he requires of me.”

I know that he means it for my good. I know that to do so honors him. But oh, how often I fail. If only…

On the one hand, our determined psalmist acknowledges the Lord’s mandate that his people live according to his ways. On the other, he himself is not able to do it even though he wants to. That’s the point of the little word Oh at the beginning. It conveys a mixture of desire and despair.

How often have you found yourself in the same dilemma?

In the words of Paul, “The good that I want to do, I don’t do. The evil that I hate? That, I do…. Who will deliver me from this death-body.” (Ro 7.19-24)

What does it mean to keep God’s statutes? Legally a statute is a written law. Biblically, God’s statutes are not limited to the specific “books of the Law" (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) but include the entire Scriptures. When God speaks, his word becomes “the law” of how his creation works. He has appointed time, space, quantity, labor, usage—everything for the proper operation of his world, including its fail-safes. There is no detail that is not subject to his wisdom. Practically speaking, then, God’s statutes must be kept, if we expect life, or this world, to be as good as he prepared it to be.

That’s the basis of both the psalmist’s and Paul’s prayers. When it comes to behavior, the psalmist knew only the need for obedience to the Mosaic code. The apostle knew that, and more. He had experienced firsthand the love and grace of God that nullify disobedience.

No wonder Paul exclaimed, “Thanks be to God for our Lord, Jesus Christ!” (Ro 7.25)

Jesus is our hero, for sure. Prior to him, the only way anyone could come to the World Maker was to pay the penalty demanded by the old covenant. This, Jesus did perfectly, freely, and definitively. In so doing, he went on to establish a new covenant, one that works in a whole different way.

Covenants are not a common part of modern life, so it’s sometimes hard to understand why they play such a big role in the Lord’s dealings with his people then and now. Here’s the thing. God is holy, and given the nature of holiness, no one can live in his presence unless equally holy. This has not changed from one covenant to the next.

We know that God crafted a chosen nation out of Abraham’s descendants with the intention to dwell with them. So that his absolute holiness did not consume their unholy selves, he established a covenant, through Moses, in which he explained how his people should behave. He was very clear. “You shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy” (Lev 19.2 etc).

Accordingly, almost everything had to be covered in blood—life for life—just to make sure.

All that changed when Jesus satisfied the terms of the first and introduced a new covenant in his own blood. To live in the presence of holiness is no longer beyond us. But make no mistake. There’s still only one way to survive, and it still requires blood. That way, however, doesn’t depend on how we behave but on what we believe—by grace we are saved through faith. Statute #1 under the New Covenant. And being able to believe is exactly what God meant when he promised to “put his law within us,” to “write it on our hearts.”

How does he do it? He pours out his love—his Spirit—in our hearts (Ro 5.5).

Think of it. The only command Jesus gave his followers is to love (Jn 15.12).

Love who? God and people, which sums up the whole Law (Mt 22.38-40).

Love how? As he loved us, which is exactly how the Father loved him (Jn 15.9).

God’s own holy love satisfies the statutes of God. The Spirit both wills and acts according to the great purpose of God—from within us. (Ro 8.26-27)

No kidding this is an indescribable gift (2Co 9.5)!

Now, we’re still talking about obedience here. He requires us to behave lovingly toward himself and others if we want to live in his presence. Words and feelings are not enough. If they are true, our actions will manifest them. (Lk 6.45)

I suspect this is why Jesus went to such lengths to present God as father. The parent-child relationship portrays the dynamic of love God is after.

Children know nothing about the world they’re born into. They would soon die if left on their own. They must learn everything to survive and thrive. Beginning with home and family, they figure out relationships and responsibilities, but not without a lot of teaching and trial-and-error experiences. The object of childhood experience is to learn the skills to successfully navigate the world.

In the same way, we are born again into God’s kingdom without knowing how it works or what it’s about. He feeds us and grows us but doesn’t wait until we are mature before he begins to teach us through our believer-family, and eventually through those still outside it. He trains us to reign through earthly responsibilities. He gave us this world for our pleasure and for our care, but while it is our birthplace, it isn’t our journey’s end. Our home is with him, and one day we’re going to need to live as one of his own. In the presence of absolute holiness.

For my part, I have set my heart on the eternal city, and I hope you have too, given how difficult and unsatisfying this world can be.

I look forward to my happy-ever-after with the Prince of Peace. To that end, I’m determined to learn all I can about kingdom life.

I don’t intend just to learn about it though. I’m starting to practice it as well (Ja 1.22), because I want it to be as natural to me as it is to him. I want his grace and dignity and beauty to be mine long before I set foot on his celestial shore.

We have only one hope to that end: that our ways be steadfast in keeping his statutes.

[This excerpt is taken from Why Is Life So Hard? Volume 5: God’s Statutes, for sale August 1,2023.]