wonderful things

Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law."

From the time we are but wee tots, rules always seemed like a rip-off and a "drag".  They are EVERYwhere.  Society, school, family.  Then there are the unwritten rules that are just known but not written anywhere.  It can seem overwhelming.  And in our flesh, disobeying, bending, or breaking them can be a huge temptation to our fulfill our desires...or to just be rebellious and the thrill therein. 

There are rule followers and rule breakers (I lean toward rule-follower...the guilt just kills me and I'm a horrid liar).  There are those who take the law and live so rigidly and add their own unwritten laws to their lives that there is no joy.  Or the law becomes their joy to wield it over others.   The Pharisees were a lot like this.  They live perfect lives on the outside, but their hearts were pretty yucky on the inside...and Jesus called them out on it.

Then, there are those who don't want to follow Jesus because there are all those rules...and they might have to give up the very sin that they so enjoy, but really brings no life.  That's the thing though, God's laws set you free...free from the bondage of sin.  They bring untold joy.  But you may have to look a little deeper than the surface to find out why...that is what the psalmist was asking God to help him do.  Help me see the wonderful things...beyond the words.  

In my own life, I found that living by the two greatest commandments...to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love others as yourself take care of every other law.   When you are focused on putting God first and being kind...everything else falls in line.  It's so simple.  It is SO SIMPLE.  I dream of the world that might be like this...my eternal home.  And in the interim, I hold hope that the current world in which I live could look a little more like this...when we see the wonderful things in His law.