Been meaning to share this one for awhile with my own thoughts, but realized this morning that nothing more needs to be said. This is from C.H. Spurgeon’s Faith Checkbook, April 9:
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165)
Yes, a true love for the great Book will bring us great peace from the great God and be a great protection to us. Let us live constantly in the society of the law of the Lord, and it will breed in our hearts a restfulness such as nothing else can. The Holy Spirit acts as a Comforter through the Word and sheds abroad those benign influences which calm the tempests of the soul.
Nothing is a stumbling block to the man who has the Word of God dwelling in him richly. He takes up his daily cross, and it becomes a delight. For the fiery trial he is prepared and counts it not strange, so as to be utterly cast down by it. He is neither stumbled by prosperity — as so many are — nor crushed by adversity — as others have been — for he lives beyond the changing circumstances of external life. When his Lord puts before him some great mystery of the faith which makes others cry, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” the believer accepts it without question; for his intellectual difficulties are overcome by his reverent awe of the law of the Lord, which is to him the supreme authority to which he joyfully bows. Lord, work in us this love, this peace, this rest, this day.
This reminds me of a couple of my favorite verses in Psalm 119.
“I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,
and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”
Ps 119:44-45 (ESV)
… or in the NIV
“I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.”
The thought of walking about in freedom (in a wide place) by keeping God’s law is yet one more example to me of the unintuitive and unexpected teachings found in the Word.
In the Spurgeon quote above, this freedom can simply be the freedom from stumbling blocks or offense.
“…walk in a wide place” reminds me of conversations I’ve had with my kids explaining boundaries and the security and safety that can be found within those boundaries. I guess that applies to us as well
Thanks for the post.