Psalm 147:19-20 & its Significance
Gratitude is a Christian life fundamental. This psalm verse is the conclusion of the Psalm given the title of “Praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem” which is exactly that, gratitude. However, this is a a kind of gratitude only a handful of modern Americans would be capable of. This is because not only has society at large stopped listening (Latin: Obedire) to anything associated with commitments and religion. However, as Christians, we should be joyful at the gift of the law (cf. 1 John 5:3). Why? Because it is one of the many ways God is leading us home in health, happiness, wholeness, and love. The Christian life is about being in communion with God, and indeed, we are not ourselves without it. Yet, as early as Moses, God has been instructing and encountering man in this path of communion, which made Israel set apart.
In the Old Testament, God leads his people out of slavery. God literally moves heaven and earth to be with his people. He frees his people from pagan bondage so He can encounter them. He then proceeds to guide them into a desert. There His people journey with Him, and though they are prone to the ways of the pagans; he brings them to repentance through deprivation of lesser goods(which even secular self-improvement programs say is to be expected). He does so in a manner that helps them to concern themselves less with the desires of the flesh and more with His plan in their lives. Indeed, this is what God intends to accomplish in each of our lives. Further, He gives them guidances and covenants that Cain would have preferred. Cain killed his brother long before the 10 commandments were bestowed upon Israel. There was only the Natural law in His heart to stop from doing evil. God did not say it was evil but it was. Thus it is clear that even morality has always existed but none knew exactly what it entailed until God revealed it.
The New Law, then, is a sort of continuation of the Old Law’s goal. In this new covenant with God, Christ arrived, began the Passover, and finished it upon the cross. This new covenant allows for even more intimate communion because we must eat of the Lamb to be saved like in Exodus 12(John 6). Even outside of the New Law Passover, the Mass, Christ wants to act in and through our lives. God reiterates and restates the concepts of the Old Law, and renews and perfects our understanding of God’s intent for our lives. We are given the two greatest commandments which encompass the Ten Commandments. If we breach these commandments, especially with knowledge and intent, we, largely, lose our communion with God. God thus not only has given us something to avoid but something to live for. However not just any old goal, but the Way (Himself) to remaining not just in His image, but also His likeness. He gave us the final end of man: to share in His very life and essence, love.
In conclusion, God never stops pursuing us. He gives commandments to guide not to oppress, as is proper to the nature of the Omni-benevolent King of the Universe. He gives them that we many be free to love as He does, and thereby makes free to attain our ultimate fulfillment. Let us be thankful that He gave commandments that we may know the Way (Himself) when we see Him. Let us be thankful that, unlike Cain, we know what to avoid and most importantly what to live for. Since “He has not dealt thus with others”, and has revealed Himself, let us bring what we have to others which is the saving action of love that makes complete the New Covenant (cf. Colossians 1:24). God being all good, all-powerful, and all-loving, give commands that are in the best interest of all creation, making life very simple. The only greater mercy than the gift of the law is His forgiveness which we must live to unfold. The gift of the law reveals God wants to be more than occasional friends, in fact, it reveals that we are to be different than the rest of the world. A Christian should not cut cucumbers the same as anyone else. An extreme example but it is to this extent and on this level that our faith should really penetrate our lives. God is not satisfied with waving, but with something greater than marriage.
Lord so many think they know the truth,But they know it not if not You.
We think we know freedom,
While still not Your Kingdom.
Gullible we are
For we mistake candles for stars
Still more we detest the moon
for its light is not its own.
Everyone wants Heaven,
Not at the expense of the worlds leaven.
We think “rules? How cruel!”
If only we knew the Way to You…
