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A redeemed man is unable to restrain his acknowledgments of Divine influence springing up in his heart-O how love I Your law!
Posted : 10 Jun, 2013 02:23 AM
Psalm 119:97 O how love I Your law! it is my meditation all the day.
Mark the man of God giving utterance to his feelings of
heavenly delight- expressing most, by intimating that he
cannot adequately express what he desires. He seems unable
to restrain his acknowledgments of Divine influence springing
up in his heart-O how love I Your law! This experience is most
distinctive of a spiritual character. The professor may read,
and understand, and even externally obey the law; but the
believer only loves it; and he lives in it, as if he could not live
without it. To the professor it is a task imposed to satisfy
conscience; "the veil upon the heart" darkens all his spiritual
apprehension, and consequently excludes spiritual delight. To
the child of God, it is food and medicine, light and comfort yes, "life from the dead." The law of precept in the word is a
"law of liberty"-a law of love-in his heart. His former obedience
was the bondage of fear. But how different is the effect of
constraining love! He now delights to view it in every
lineament. He dwells upon every feature with intense
enjoyment. Before, it was his confinement-his chain. Now, it is
his liberty-his ornament. He is not what he was-"Old things are
passed away: behold, all things are become new."
Think what good reason there is to love the law. It is the
epistle of our most beloved friend-not to be slighted, but to be
placed in our bosom, nearest our hearts. It sets out that relief,
without which the conscience would have been tortured by the
never-dying worm. There is more of glory-more of God-in this,
than in any other manifestation of His name. It has ever been
the mirror, that has reflected Christ to His church. The spiritual
eye discerns Him in every part. Now-Reader-do you search
for Him in His law? Do you love His law, because it "testifies
of Him?" Do you pray for His Spirit, that His law may guide
you to Him? This is the evidence that you have "turned unto the Lord, when the veil is taken away," and you "with unveiled
face behold in this glass the glory of the Lord." Then if you do
love His law, you will love the whole of it-its obligations as well
as its privileges. You will love it at all times, even when it is
thwarting your own will and way. The whole law is light and
love-wisdom and faithfulness.
But love of the law fastens the soul to the beloved object, It is
my meditation all the day. When you cannot have it in your
hand, it will be found, if indeed your soul is in a prosperous
state, "hid in your heart." There it is kept as your most
precious treasure; while you live upon it with unwearied
appetite as your daily bread, and exercise yourself in it as
your daily rule. Oh, how worthy is it of all the love of the
warmest heart! The deepest students are most humbled for
their want of suitable enlargement.
But this heavenly spirit can only be grounded upon a sense of
reconciliation. Can an unreconciled sinner be interested in the
law, in every page of which he reads his own condemnation?
This explains the enmity of the ungodly. But the cultivation of
this spirit upon the ground of the gospel is a most important
principle of the Christian steadfastness, the want of which has
been the source of fearful delusion; and in the exercise of
which we shall realize a deeper insight and more spiritual
discernment of Scriptural truth. Warm affections will be far
more influential than talent, or mere external knowledge.
This habit of love and holy meditation will spread its influence
over our whole character. It will fill our hearts with heavenly
matter for prayer, diffuse a sweet savor over our earthly
employments, sanctify the common bounties of Providence,
realize the presence of God throughout the day, command
prosperity upon our lawful undertakings, and enlarge our
usefulness in the church. Thus the man of God is formed in
his completeness, symmetry, and attraction-such as the world is often constrained secretly to admire, even where the heart
is unready to follow.
Lord! implant in my heart a supreme love to Your law. Write it
upon my heart-even that new law, "the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus." May I love it so, that I may be always
meditating upon it, and by continual meditation yet more
enlarging my love and delight in it! So let it prove an ever springing source of heavenly enjoyment and holy
conversation!
by
Charles Bridges
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