Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Are you a rule breaker or a rule follower? I always find that question funny because if you ask my wife, if we had known each other in high school, she would say she wouldn't have liked me because we couldn't have been more different. She was your classic rule follower. She did everything to a tee. She would even tell her parents when she did something wrong, or if they had forgotten to give her punishment for doing something wrong when they were out and about.
I was the exact opposite. I was a rule breaker. I thought rules were limiting and I found every reason to break them. I found enjoyment out of that idea. Many of us might feel the same way about rules—that they hold us back, that they take away our freedom, that they limit us, that they suppress us.
A Different Perspective on God's Rules
Maybe we've even felt that way when it comes to following God's rules and God's laws, that He's trying to rob us of freedom and the ability to find joy by living life exactly how we want to, and He's just giving us this laundry list of do's and don'ts. But then we read a verse like our Verse of the Day here that flips this idea on its head.
The psalmist writes in Psalm chapter 119, verse 143: "As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commandments." I know for me, when I'm in a time of stress, rules don't make me feel any better. The last thing I want when I'm stressed is for somebody to come in and start telling me everything that they think I should do.
The psalmist here isn't just saying in their time of stress that God's rules are okay, or I will accept God's rules. He's explicitly saying, "When I'm stressed, I turn to God's commands to find joy. When life is crazy, I turn to God's ways."
The GPS for Life
Why is that? Think about it like this. Imagine you're driving to somewhere new that you've never been. You know generally where the destination is, but you don't know the exact turns, and you don't know how long it's supposed to take you to get there. What's worse is your phone just lost reception and now you have no idea where to go. As somebody who just had this happen on a cross-country move, I can tell you in that moment, stress and pressure bore down on me, and the last thing that I wanted was just a list of rules.
Do you know what I did want? Somebody to just come in and tell me the next turn. The next step to take. Not everything at once overwhelming me with all the directions, but just one push in the right direction. This is how God's commandments work in our lives. We know the destination is heaven, but navigating this life can be confusing and maybe we're left wandering at times, and we can turn towards God's commandments to push us in the right direction, to lead us into holy living, to give us answers to the questions that we have, to guide us towards the prize, the goal, and a fulfilling life with Jesus.
Commands That Lead to Joy
God's commands aren't meant to rob us of joy. They show us how to live the life that God designed us to live, and so we embrace them. We can find joy, just like the psalmist says here. Whether you're going through stress or you're finding that life is just too heavy right now, I want to encourage you to turn to the Word of God. Trust in His commands because they're leading you into joy and peace everlasting.
