Tag: freedom

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Acts Devotionals

That chains may be broken

broken chains

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:26)

As I read those words, I thought about all the people in my life that need to have their chains broken, who need to be set free.

One is bound by chains of hurt, anger, and bitterness.

Another is bound by chains of anxiety and confusion.

Others I know are bound by low self-worth, of not feeling “good enough.”

Others are bound by their own sin.

Satan has wrapped his chains around so many around me, including chains I’m unaware of.

God was reminding me today, “I want break those chains.”

Just as he broke Lydia’s chains. The demon-possessed girl’s chains. The prisoners’ chains. The jailer’s chains.

And so I’m praying for the people in my life whom Satan has enchained. And I’m praying that God shows me how to be that intersection point between heaven and earth for them.

Are there chains that need to be broken in the lives of people you know? Are there chains that need to be broken in your own life?

The Spirit of the Lord God is on me…

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners… (Isaiah 61:1)

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2 Peter Devotionals

Promising freedom

They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. (2 Peter 2:19)

In this passage, Peter warns against false teachers in the church.

The truth is, we are seeing a lot of false teachers in the church today. Teachers who treat the Bible as mere human words instead of as God’s words.

And so when culture goes against what the Bible teaches, these teachers go right along with the culture.

Our culture and these teachers promise people freedom by getting away from the teachings of God.

But this “freedom” actually destroys. It destroys people’s lives, and worst of all, it destroys their souls.

Jesus is the one who gives true freedom. And if we want to be truly free, we need to believe and cling to his teaching.

You cannot claim to be Jesus’ disciple while rejecting his teaching.

Let us always remember our Lord’s own words on this:

If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

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Judges Devotionals

To whom are you offering yourself to?

Judges

Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

As I read today’s story, I thought about these words from Paul. The Israelites offered themselves to the gods of the nations, including the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.

Why? We don’t know. But perhaps they thought they would find freedom and happiness in doing so. But instead, they found bondage and misery to the Ammonites and Philistines.

We may think they were foolish. But how often do we abandon God and his ways? Rather, we pursue this world’s gods of success, sex, money, and things. We think by doing so, we’ll find freedom and happiness.

But then we find out that the things that promised us freedom and happiness actually end up enslaving us and destroying us. Instead of joy and life, we find shame, misery, and ultimately death.

So let us heed the words of Paul.

For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification…

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (19, 23)

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James

Open hearts

James

At times, I must admit this letter James wrote seems a bit disjointed. He just seems to jump from topic to topic. But the more I’ve been reading this letter as a whole, the more united it has become.

In this passage, at first glance, seemingly out of nowhere, James brings up something very similar to what we see in Proverbs. He says,

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (James 1:19-20)

There is, of course, much truth to this in our relationships. If we would be quicker to listen to people, slower to speak, and slower to get angry, our relationships would be much better.

But I’m not so sure that James is talking here about our relationships with others. I think he’s talking about our relationship with God.

Earlier he talked about how God uses our trials to make us mature and complete. That during these times, he teaches us to trust him and to do things his way.

The problem is that during times in of trials, too many times, we’re not willing to listen. Instead we rage at God, saying, “Why are you letting this happen to me!”

But James told us in verse 18 that through his word of truth, he gave birth to us.

Through the word of the gospel we heard and accepted, he saved us from our sin and made us his children.

And it is that same word that transforms us day by day into Christ’s likeness, making us whole and complete.

So James is saying here, “Be quick to listen to that word. In your times of trial be quick to listen to what God is trying to tell you. Be slow to speak. Be slow to complain. Be slow to rage against God because of your trials.

“For that kind of anger will not bring about the righteous life that God desires to develop in you.”

He then says,

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (21)

In short, God is trying to purify you through these trials and his word. So when he speaks, open your heart to what he’s trying to teach you.

His word can save you not only from your trials, but save you from the multiple problems that come when you sin.

So don’t just mentally assent to what God is saying to you. Do it.

James puts it this way,

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does. (22-25)

A lot of people think of God’s law as taking away our freedom. They think his law takes away from the enjoyment of life. But God’s law actually brings us freedom.

It frees us from bitterness and resentment.

It frees us from the chains that destroy our marriages, our relationships, and our lives.

It frees us to have the full life that God intended for us from the very beginning.

And as a result, we find blessing.

How about you? As you go through struggles in your life, are you getting resentful and bitter toward God?

Or do you open your heart to him? God wants to use your trials to make you whole.

When he whispers, do you listen?

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Ephesians

Freedom and confidence

Ephesians

I wonder how often we take for granted what we have in Christ.

I look at this whole passage in Ephesians 3, and it talks about this mystery that even the Old Testament prophets and priests never really understood, at least, not fully.

What would Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel have thought if they saw the church today. If they saw people coming before God with boldness and confidence.

For that’s what Paul says we have now.

In verse 12, he tells us,

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)

One has to think, did even these prophets have that absolute boldness and confidence to approach God as we do. To call him “Abba, Father. Daddy.” Did they feel that freedom?

Somehow, I don’t think so. There was probably always some fear as they came before him. They were only too aware of their own failings and sin, even when they weren’t face to face with God.

The priests too knew they had to be very careful when entering the Holy Place and Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and temple. To not do so, meant death.

How would they have felt, knowing that we now have open access to God without restrictions?

But because of Jesus, not only have we been cleansed from our sin, Jesus has put his robes of righteousness upon us. Now through him, we can come before God with boldness and have free access to him.

And through us, the angels and demons themselves see something that must make them wonder and fear (3:10). A people who are God’s own, clothed in a righteousness not their own, fully accepted, and confidently, joyfully coming into his presence.

How the Old Testament prophets and priests would have wondered at such a sight.

Do you?

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Galatians

Children of promise

Galatians

In this passage, Paul makes a very interesting allegory to drive home a simple point: We are children of God based on His promise, not children of God based on our keeping his law.

He talks about the story of Hagar and Sarah found in Genesis 16-21.

God had promised to give Abraham a son, but after years of waiting, Abraham and Sarah had started to lose hope that God would keep his promise.

So Sarah suggested that Abraham have a child through her slave Hagar (something atrocious to us, but perfectly normal back in those days).

Through Hagar, Abraham got his first son, Ishmael. But this was a son that came not based on the promise of God and his provision. Rather, it was based solely on human efforts.

Later though, Sarah did give birth to a son named Isaac. His birth was a total miracle, a total act of God, as Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth.

And it was through Isaac, God told Abraham, that He would keep his promise to make Abraham into a great nation.

Paul then says those who try to be justified by the law are symbolized by Hagar and her son Ishmael. They are not trying to receive the blessing of God based on God’s promise and God’s work. Rather, they are trying to achieve it through their own human effort.

But there’s a problem with this. Children born of a slave are slaves themselves. So people who try to be “children of Hagar,” justified by their own human efforts, will in reality only find themselves enslaved by the law of sin and death.

In other words, the law can’t save them at all. All it does is point out their sin and condemn them to death. (Galatians 4:24-25)

On the other hand those who are trying to be justified before God by his grace are like Isaac, children and heirs of God based on God’s promise and God’s work.

Because of that, we are no longer enslaved by the law of sin and death. We have been set free and are now true children of the most high God. (Galatians 4:26-28)

But just as Ishmael, the child born of human efforts, persecuted Isaac, the child born of God’s promise, so the Judaizers persecuted the Christians.

In particular, the Judaizers tried to shut out the Galatian Christians until they agreed to put themselves under slavery to the law like the Judaizers were. (Galatians 4:29)

So Paul speaks very strongly here:

What does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” (Galatians 4:30)

In short, “Get rid of these false teachers. They are children of the slave. And they will never share in your inheritance. They have no part with you. They are trying to exclude you when the reality is that it is they who are excluded.”

And then he reemphasizes,

“Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” (Galatians 4:31)

He then charges them,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again under a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Let us never forget that. Christ set us free from the law, not so that we would go under it all over again, but that we would truly be free from it forever.

He set us free so that we could live as children of God, knowing that we are already accepted by Him, and not worrying about whether we are good enough.

How about you? Are you living with the peace and joy of a child of God? Or are you still living like a slave burdened by all the rules of religion?

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1 Corinthians

What freedom in Christ does not mean

1 Corinthians

One of the key things that Paul taught in his letters was freedom from the law. That we are no longer under law, but under grace.

But much as people do in this time, people in Corinth were corrupting that teaching.

Paul had just finished lambasting the Corinthian church for the way they were treating each other, and he told them,

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

How were the Corinthians responding?

“But you said, ‘Everything is permissible (or ‘lawful’) for me.’ So why can’t I do these things. It’s my life, after all.”

But Paul answers, “All things may be lawful for you, but not all things are beneficial.”

We will see an example of this in chapter 8, where he says that eating food sacrificed to idols is lawful, but we shouldn’t do it if it will cause another Christian to stumble.

Our eating such food would not be beneficial to our brother’s spiritual well-being.

He then says again, “All things may be lawful for you…but you should not be mastered by anything, least of all sin.”

Paul expands on this in Romans,

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

Many times people start out choosing to sin, but ultimately find themselves in slavery to it.

Gluttony is an example of this. Pornography is another.

In both cases, people start out by indulging themselves, but in the end, find themselves out of control.

Even if the doctor says they need to lose weight or risk suffering a heart attack, they can’t stop.

And even if pornography is destroying their marriage life, they find they cannot get away from it.

Some of the Corinthians said, “But God created us to eat. That’s why he gave us stomachs, after all. And he created us as sexual beings. God created us to fulfill those needs. Why then all the restrictions?”

But Paul reminds them that while God did indeed give us stomachs and create us as sexual beings, nevertheless, meeting these needs were not the main purposes for which he created us.

We were not created simply to live for and please ourselves.

Paul said,

“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” (what the Corinthians were saying) –but God will destroy them both. (1 Corinthians 6:13)

In other words both food and the stomach are temporal things, not eternal. We weren’t created simply for indulging our stomachs.

And Paul goes on to say,

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:13)

Put another way, our body is not meant for sinful purposes, but for the Lord’s. We were created to be his temple. And he paid a great price on the cross that we might be his.

Paul wrote,

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

What does freedom in Christ not mean?

It doesn’t mean that you live for yourself and indulge yourself in sin.

Rather, it means being set free from the sin that was destroying you. It means being free to walk with God without fear of being punished.

Rather we walk in the knowledge that God loves us, and is now dwelling in us through his Holy Spirit.

And each day we live out the purpose for which we were created for: to love, honor and glorify God.

How about you? How are you using your freedom?

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Romans

True freedom

Romans

Why do so many people flee from following God? I suppose it comes from a desire to be free.

What does freedom mean to most people? It means being able to live however they want to.

But if they follow God, they feel they can’t do that. Instead, they have to follow a series of dos and don’ts that will put a crimp on their happiness.

I think that a lot of what Paul faced, these questions of “Shall we sin so that grace may abound even more,” and “Shall we sin because we no longer under law but under grace” came because of this kind of thinking.

These people simply wanted to live however they wanted to.

But is true freedom simply the freedom to live however you wish? Or is there something more to it?

I think there is something more.

Let’s put it this way. One problem I face in Japan is whenever I’m dealing with Japanese electronic goods, the instructions are always in Japanese.

Now my Japanese level is okay on a speaking level, but reading and writing is another thing altogether. I can do it to an extent, but whenever I do my Japanese blogs, I make sure my wife edits it to get rid of any embarrassing mistakes.

At any rate, I bought a new Blu-Ray recorder recently and was trying to connect it with my TV and our cable box. But because the instructions were in Japanese and I couldn’t understand them.

As a result, I was left trying to figure things out on my own and was in utter frustration for hours.

At least, though, I had an excuse for not following the instructions.

So many other people who can read Japanese try installing their Blu-ray recorders, or computers, or other electronic goods, and just think, “Who needs the instructions? I’ll just do what I think looks right.”

And they end up, like me, in total frustration. Is that freedom?

In the same way, people look at their lives, and God tells them, “This is how I designed your life. This is how it works best. Just trust me, and you’ll find blessing.”

But people say, “Forget that, God. I’ll do things how I think is best. I’ll do things my way.”

In doing so, however, they destroy their relationships with their wives and children and the people around them. They make decisions that destroy their health or even their very lives. And ultimately, they end up in utter frustration.

The happiness they sought by doing things their way ends up utterly eluding them. Is that freedom?

And that’s what Paul says in verses 20-21,

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (Romans 6:20-21)

In other words, “Yes, you were ‘free’ from God. But what did your ‘freedom’ get you? It brought you shame. It was destroying you.”

But when we put ourselves in God’s hands, and we follow his leading, what happens?

The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22)

Like I said yesterday, the idea here is that we become whole.

And eternal life doesn’t start with heaven. It starts here on earth, living a life that is full and complete.

Why? Because we are living as we were designed to live.

That’s true freedom.

The key to freedom? Trusting God.

Trusting that he knows best. Trusting that he loves you and actually wants your best.

And because of that trust we have in him, offering our lives to him every day. As we do, that’s when we find true freedom.

How about you? Have you found true freedom?

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Acts

Set free

Acts

If there is one theme in this chapter, it’s being set free.

Lydia and her household were set free from their sin, and perhaps the Jewish requirements of the law as well.

The girl was set free from the demon possessing her.

The jailor was set free from his sins, and perhaps so were many of the other prisoners.

And of course, Paul and Silas were set free from their chains.

All of this, in fact, is summed up in their prison experience. As they were sitting there, probably in great pain because of the beating they had taken, they nevertheless started singing and praising God.

At first, all the other prisoners must have thought they were nuts. But somehow they sensed a reality to what they were hearing. Perhaps they even sensed God’s presence in the prison and started asking Paul and Silas questions.

The jailer, meanwhile, probably just went to bed thinking they were all crazy. But then, an earthquake hit, and when it did,

All the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:26)

Those words strike me. Because when we let God work in our lives, that’s exactly what happens. Prison doors fly open, and everyone’s chains come loose. Not only in our own lives, but in the lives of those we touch.

God’s love touched the prisoners in the jail cells to the point that none of them tried to escape when Paul asked them to stay. And it touched the jailer to the point that he cried out,

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30)

And because of that love and compassion that flowed out of Paul, the jailer and his family were set free from the chains of Satan that had bound them all their lives, and they were all filled with great joy.

God wants to set those around you free. That’s why Jesus came 2000 years ago. So let us spread the love of God to those around us, especially this Christmas. And let us share the message of the gospel that Paul did.

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household. (Acts 16:31)

And people will be set free.

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Luke Luke 13

To set people free

Luke

Old ways of thinking die hard. You’d think that by now, the Jewish leaders would start to understand that healing on the Sabbath was not wrong.

They had tried time and again to argue the point with Jesus, and time and again, they were left speechless by his responses.

But as I look at this passage, two words strike me. They’re words that embody the reason for Jesus’ ministry here on earth. The two words?

Set free.

When Jesus saw the woman, he said to her,

Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. (Luke 13:12)

And when he was defending his actions to the synagogue ruler, he said,

Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? (Luke 13:16)

What can we learn from this? Jesus is more interested in setting people free than us keeping a bunch of religious rules.

Here was a woman who had been bound by Satan for 18 years and living in total misery.

And yet, this ruler had had little sympathy for her during those years. If he had, he probably would have responded with joy at her healing. Instead, he scathingly rebuked Jesus for “breaking the rules.”

Jesus, on the other hand, had compassion on her from the moment he laid his eyes on her.

He saw how Satan had kept her in bondage all those years, and it was his deepest desire to set her free. So he reached out to her, touched her, and she was healed.

How about you? Are you so wrapped up in trying to keep religious rules, that you fail to see the people in bondage around you? That you fail to have sympathy for them even if you do see them? That you fail to reach out with God’s love and power that they might be set free?

You can keep all the rules, but if you have no compassion or mercy in your heart for those Satan has bound, if you are not doing what you can to help set them free, you’re just like that synagogue ruler.

And like that ruler, you will stand ashamed before Jesus someday.

May we each day look with compassion at the people around us who are bound by Satan. May we each day reach out with the love of Jesus that they might be set free.

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John John 8

The truth that sets free

John

Many times, people look at the “rules of Christianity,” and feel that they are so binding.  That they couldn’t enjoy life if they followed them.

But when Jesus tells us how we should live, he doesn’t do so to bind us up.  He does it so that we may be set free.  He told the Jews here,

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  (John 8:31-32)

The Jews reaction is very typical of people today.  They replied,

We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?

Taken in today’s context, many people say, “I’m American,” or “I’m Japanese,” (or whatever nationality they might be).

“I’m no slave.   I’m free to do whatever I like.  What do you mean, I’ll be set free if I follow Jesus’ teaching?”

But Jesus tells us,

I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:35-36)

Many people think that if they can sin without being captive to their conscience, that is true freedom.

But the truth is, while they may choose to sin in the beginning, eventually they become its slave and cannot stop even if they try.  Addiction to porn, gambling, drugs, and alcohol are all obvious examples of this.

But we also see people enslaved to their bitterness, or enslaved to their destructive habits that destroy their relationships, their marriages or their friendships.

But when we follow Jesus, he sets us free.  We are no longer slaves to these things.  Instead, he breaks the chains that bind us to the things that are destroying us, and he shows us a better way.

Not only that, he gives us the power to live in this new way.  He doesn’t just say, “Do it.”  He says, “Take my hand.  Let’s take it a step at a time.”

And little by little, change comes, and before you know it, you’re completely set free.

How about you?  Have you given up and said, “It’s hopeless.  I can’t stop these behaviors that are destroying me?  That are destroying my relationships?”

Jesus can set you free.  It starts with one word.  “Yes.”

“Yes, Jesus.  I believe that you love me and that your way is best.  So Lord, I want to do things your way.  Help me.”

As you say yes to him, you will find healing in your life and your relationships.  And then you will know what true freedom really is.

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Luke Luke 8 Mark Mark 5 Matthew Matthew 8

Set free

The gospels

A very bizarre story to say the least. Here, Jesus and his disciples come to the other side of the lake following the storm, and when they do, they immediately come across two demon possessed men.

(One wonders why only one is mentioned in Mark and Luke. Perhaps only one of them came to a saving faith, but that is only speculation).

Perhaps as they first were drawing near the shore, they heard these strange howls and cries, and they wondered what in the world those howls were.

Then when they reach shore, these men come running out naked, and possibly with broken chains hanging from their hands and feet.

And when the disciples look more closely, they notice cuts up and down these men’s bodies, and they can see they’re self-inflicted.

How would you have felt? I would have been frightened out of my mind.

But Jesus commands the demons to leave.

At first, they resisted, shouting, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time? Swear to God that you won’t torture me.” (Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7)

But when Jesus continues to demand they leave, they ask permission to go into a herd of pigs, and when they do, the pigs jump off a steep bank and drown in the lake.

When the townspeople come out and see the men in their right minds, however, they are frightened out of their minds at the transformation and ask Jesus to leave.

What can we get from this?

I think the first thing is that demons are real, and are not to be trifled with.

Some people “play” with tarot cards and ouija boards thinking it’s just a game, but whenever you “play” with these things, you’re opening yourself up to a spiritual beings…and they are not from God.

One person put it this way. “There is a door to the spiritual world, and the doorknob is only on our side. But when we open that door, anything can come in.”

Note too that these demons do not mean us any good. Sometimes they disguise themselves as angels of light, but ultimately, they seek our destruction.

You can see that in their treatment of these men, but also in what happened to the pigs when they entered them. Tarot cards and ouija boards may seem fun, but the powers behind them are seeking to destroy you.

The good news is that we don’t have to be afraid of them. Because as powerful as demons are, Jesus clearly shows here that he has the authority over them.

That said, stay as far as possible from anything occultic. You may be forced to encounter demons, but that doesn’t mean you should go pursuing encounters with them.

Hopefully, you’ll never encounter demon possession, but there are other things I think we can get from this passage.

One thing is that while sin may seem fun, in the end, it controls you and will destroy you.

I don’t know how these men came to be demon possessed, but it didn’t come by seeking God. And while they may have opened the door to these demons, once they came in, they were no longer in control, the demons were.

In the same way, we may start out by choosing sin, but in the end, it controls us. Like the men in this story, a lot of the wounds we have are self-inflicted. And apart from repentance and God’s grace, sin will destroy us.

But as with Jesus and these demoniacs, Jesus has the power to set us free. If we will turn to him and repent, he will forgive our sins, and help us to overcome sin in our lives.

Not everyone will be happy with the change, however. The people from their hometown certainly weren’t. They asked Jesus to leave.

As bad and frightening as these men used to be, it seems the townspeople almost wished they had never changed. People may feel the same about you.

But Jesus calls us to minister to them. And like Jesus told these men, so he tells you,

Return home and tell how much God has done for you. (Luke 8:39)

Jesus has set you free. Won’t you share what God has done for you so that he can set free those you love too?

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Psalms

The word that brings freedom and comfort

Psalms

The love that the writer has for God’s word really strikes me as I go through this psalm.

So many people take God’s word as something that binds.  Namely, something that takes away our freedom to enjoy life.  “Do this, don’t do that.”

But the psalmist doesn’t see things that way at all.  Why not?  I think it flows from his concept of God.  What was his concept of God?  We see it in verse 41.

May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise. (Psalm 119:41)

And again in verse 64,

The earth is filled with your love, O LORD. (Psalm 119:64)

In other words, he saw God as someone who truly loved him, and was looking out for his best.  As a God who was his salvation in a hostile and broken world.

As a result, when he looked at the laws of God, he didn’t see a God who was trying to be a killjoy.  Rather he saw a God who wanted him to find true life.

So he wrote in verse 45,

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. (Psalm 119:45)

Notice that to the psalmist, the law of God did not bind, but actually brought freedom.  Why?  Because when we live life the way God designed it to be lived, we find that we can actually live it to its fullest.

At home, I’m using Windows 8.  I must admit, there are a lot of things on there that I never use.  Part of it is I just don’t want to take the time to look up what everything is.  I’ve got the basics, but nothing else.

I suppose one of these days, for example, I should figure out how to use the cloud application.

I’m not using Windows 8 to its fullest because I haven’t studied the manual.  If I did, I’d probably find easier ways to do things, and my life would be a lot easier because I’d be using it the way it was designed.

I don’t have a Smart Phone (or i-phone) for that matter, but I know many people who are the same way with their phones as I am with Windows 8.  They’re missing out on a lot of the functions, because they don’t take the time to read the manual.

The Bible is the manual to life. It shows us how God designed us to live.  And when we live according to the manual, far from finding ourselves bound up, we find freedom and life.

God’s word also brings comfort when life becomes hard.  It brings comfort because besides showing us the way to life, it shows us God’s promises to those who love him.  And so as we go through this broken world, we can have hope.

The psalmist wrote,

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.  My comfort in my suffering is this:  Your promise preserves my life. (Psalm 119:49-50)

One of my favorite verses is John 14:1-3 where Jesus told his disciples this:

Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

When his disciples went through persecution, and even death, how much must those promises of Jesus have brought them comfort.  And they can bring us comfort too.

The key underlying all of this is this:  Do you believe God is good?  Do you believe that he’s looking out for your best?

If you do, his word will bring you freedom and comfort.  If you don’t, you’ll have trouble understanding the psalmist’s passion for God’s word that you see in this passage and throughout the whole psalm.

How do you see God?