Is obeying the commands of Jesus important to you? If so, why?

For the past week I have been reading Psalm 119: taking a few verses every day and meditating on the statements the psalmist makes. I began reading this psalm after I started a book called Speaking Truth in Love by David Powlinson (2005): https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Truth-Love-David-Powlison/dp/0977080714. In chapter one, 'Suffering and Psalm 119', Powlinson introduces this psalm as a much more emotional and wisdom-filled chapter than most people give it credit for:

       "...I learn how true honesty talks with God: fresh, personal, and direct; never formulaic, abstract 

       or vague. I hear firsthand how Truth and honesty meet and talk it over. This truth is never 

       denatured, rigid, or inhuman. This honesty never whines, boasts, rages, or gets defensive. I leave

       the conversation nourished by the sweetest hope imaginable. I hear how to give full expression to

       what it means to be human, in honest relationship with the Person who made humanness in His  

       image."

I love this introduction! Powlinson was right that most of us view this psalm as long and boring, but I have in the last week discovered the riches of meditating on God's Word and His commands, even in the first two dozen verses. I was recently been plunged into the depths of grief, and have had days where the last thing I want to do is study, or be motivated to find ways to live a most holy life. Instead of being met with judgment, this psalm has provided me with comfort and deeper answers to questions I didn't realize I was asking.

In my NLT, this psalm opens with "Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD. Joyful are those who obey His laws and search for Him with all their hearts" (v1-2). JOYFUL. I began feeling so far from joyful, and I wondered how my obedience to come to Kansas City, away from my family and friends, and away from the comfort of being with others who know this grief, would result in joy. Then I read John 15:9-13:

         9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you 

      obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s 

      commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will 

      be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each 

      other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down 

      one’s life for one’s friends."

Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, was about to go to the cross and leave His friends in despair and confusion, and yet He promised that they would have overflowing joy as they obeyed His commandments and "remained in His love". What was His command from His Father to them? To love each other in the same way He loved them, which involved death on a cross! Our obedience to God will cost us something: everything! This love and joy does not come cheaply, and the miracle of His work in us comes out of the process of refinement in us.

I decided to thank my God for bringing me to a place where my obedience to His Word to me was a clear choice I had to make, and to a place where I had to depend on Him for joy.  Somehow, His love can surround us and awaken our hearts in a real way when we choose to humble ourselves like Jesus does. If I am receiving my comfort only from convenience and others around me, how can I know that I'm obeying His Word? I knew that only He can enable me to hear His voice, and only He can give me the capacity to obey His ways (Psalm 40:6-8). I can choose to submit to His wiser way.

9 

        How can a young person stay pure?

            By obeying your word.

10 

11 

        I have hidden your word in my heart,

            that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9-10)

I meditated on "the pure in heart", and studied the Bible for different examples and expansions of what this means. Everywhere I looked, it was clearly related to obedience, and a purity that responds to God's own purity, having "treasured His words more than daily food" (Job 23:12). Again, there was the promise of joy in obedience in Psalm 32 and 33, even with a command to sing for joy because of the purity of our hearts! As we respond to the Lord's commands in obedience and purity, also He reveals more of who He is as the Pure and Holy One (Psalm 18:26).

Finally, I came to a challenging verse: "I am always overwhelmed by a desire for your regulations" (v. 20). I thought, is this really true of my heart? Do I find obeying Jesus' commands so important than I am overwhelmed by the desire for them? Nowadays, we don't like words like "regulations" or "commands". Some are so scared by the danger of falling into the horrors of legalism, that they will run a mile if you encourage them to follow Jesus' persuasive suggestions and loving demands upon our private and social lives! The previous two verses show that when I'm lost, I just need to ask the Holy Spirit to teach my heart revelation of how wonderful the truth of Jesus' instructions are:

18      Open my eyes to see
        the wonderful truths in your instructions.
19      I am only a foreigner in the land.
        Don’t hide your commands from me! (Psalm 119:18-19)

I find that I need the Holy Spirit's help to desire what Jesus desires, to understand why my Father values going low, and to agree to follow His righteous paths, even if they lead through the valley of the shadow of death. However, over time I have seen that His ways my life are good (Psalm 119:65), His commands are trustworthy (Psalm 119:86), and that His Word does revive me (Psalm 119:25).