| “
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” |
| —Psalm 119:18 |
“What could possibly be good about rules and regulations?”
During my 58 years of work in fire protection, I have often had someone ask that question. It was usually directed at me because I had the enormous and humbling privilege of spending almost three-quarters of my career working on the development and maintenance of various codes and standards of the National Fire Protection Association.
One of the few values that I still bring to the fire protection table is that I was present during many of the more controversial discussions regarding particular requirements in the codes’ and standards’ Technical Committees on which I served.
These national codes and standards help keep people and property in the United States safe from fire and other hazards. You can see why I might think that rules and regulations have great importance.
But, by themselves, the rules have no redeeming purpose. Rules and regulations must always lead toward some greater, overarching goal. The rules and regulations become enabling objectives for achieving whatever goal possess the utmost importance. So it is with God’s Law.
Many people criticize what Bible scholars call the Mosaic Law, described in great detail in the early books of the Old Testament. The rules seem difficult, even suppressive and highly restrictive. Truthfully, each rule had a very good and useful purpose.
But, even more importantly, the Law had, and has, an even greater goal. You see, the Law leads us to Jesus. That’s right. The Law leads us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Law convicts us of our sinfulness—for no person, left to his or her own efforts, could ever possibly conform to the rules of the Law. The Law convinces us that we need a Savior. In so doing, the Law very naturally and carefully and thoughtfully leads us to the Son of God, our Savior. It is for this reason that the Psalmist writes these words in Psalm 119:18:
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
The most wonderful thing of all that the people of God can see in the Law is their need for Jesus to reign as the King in their lives. That’s the true definition of the Kingdom of God: wherever Jesus is King and His will is obeyed.
We live in God’s Kingdom right here and right now. Someday, we will live in the eternal Kingdom of God. But, don’t be misled, we are living in the Kingdom of God right now. From the moment we bend our knee in fealty to Christ, we enter His Kingdom.
So, here at the beginning of another new day, we have much to celebrate. We can join the Psalmist in this prayer for God to open our eyes to the wonderful things that the Law contains. We can do this because we know that the Law points us to our Savior and Lord. And, anything that points us to Jesus has a goodness that simply cannot be measured.
Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2017
