Affliction Defense

Friends,

In this lifetime, we will find ourselves pushing up against the limits of lawful behavior. For some, this might mean reducing to mere nanoseconds the amount of time we are actually stopped at a stop sign before hitting the accelerator. For others, it could take the form of seeing how far we can push tax avoidance before it becomes tax evasion. In both cases, man's law keeps us from doing what we want, whether it is to get to our destination faster or to keep more of the money we have earned.

The other perspective on law is that it exists to protect the lawful. We are generally confident that we will not be gunned down at our desks because the law prohibits the boss from doing so. We expect the other driver will grant us the right-of-way because they have a stop sign -- and they had better stop, right?

The most mature view of the law is that enables us to fulfill our dreams and destiny. It not only protects us from the outlaws, but it even protects us from our own foolish tendencies. For example, in the US, the law requires that an employer withhold an appropriate amount from the employee's gross wages in order to pre-pay income taxes and other payroll taxes. This protects the worker from spending tax money that she is obligated to pay. She understands her true income and can behave accordingly.

This is the proper perspective for understanding God's law. He has written His law on our hearts in order that we would be free to obey Him.

Unless Your law had been my delight,
I would then have perished in my affliction.
-- Psalm 119:92 [NKJV]

Here the psalmist, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, understands and fully acknowledges that he depends on the law to protect him from affliction. But notice that he is not referring to affliction that comes from without... from his neighbors, the government, the boss or even the mother-in-law. Rather, he points to his own affliction. In other words, when he delights in God's law, he is protected from being distressed by his own sinful acts.

Here is the lesson for you and me, brothers and sisters.

Delight in the law of the Most High and Holy God
Your troubles will weaken

Be encouraged, Jose