I love the book of Psalms. It is one of the those books that I find myself wanting to read more and more each day. I’ll be honest some of the books in the bible are hard to digest one chapter at a time but the Psalms are refreshing for me.

The Psalms were basically songs that people in ancient Israel wrote to God. These were sung and played as people elected to use music to bring adoration and praise unto God. One of my all time favorite is Psalm 119. This is a beast of a Psalm. It has 176 verses or lines in it. it takes my about 15 minutes to read it. I couldn’t imagine trying to sing it. It is a good job they didn’t have pentecostal churches back then because they would have sung it once, repeated the chorus, then sang the verses through again, back to the chorus and then adding a bridge before singing the chorus another five times. They would have been their all day, and all night for that fact!

The reason I like Psalm 119 so much is because the guy who wrote it (it is unclear on who the exact author was) got what it means to follow God. So often in our faith we can feel restricted by the rules, regulations and commandments of God. People even refuse to live a life of faith because they think they have to give up all the pleasurable things in their lives.

However, in Psalm 119 we see a man expressing how he as fallen in love with God and the rules, regulations and the commandments of God. He says time and again through this huge Psalm that he loves the commandments of God. He writes how a man who follows the law of God is so blessed and he even goes on to say multiply times, ‘revive me according to your commandments’, basically saying, breath new life in me, but this time let my life be set on the foundation of your commandments.

The writer of Psalm 119 had a different perspective on the rules and laws of God. He realized it wasn’t there to restrict him, but they are put in place to protect him, preserve him and also to give him the freedom to live a life that is full of pleasure but not consequence.

So often we can view God as the Grinch! Instead of doing that, view God and his rules as a guideline and boundaries that will lead us into a life that is so incredible and awesome you’ll realize his law was for our long-term good and pleasure!