Psalm 119:18 "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” Today's episode talks about how God created His laws to help us stay on the road to heaven where where we get to spend eternity with our heavenly Father. Sometimes we think laws were created to keep us from having fun or enjoying life. This is not the case with God's laws. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Beauty of God’s Laws
Psalm 119:18 "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”
I heard this verse yesterday at prayer group and I thought it was interesting. I liked it because sometimes we can’t understand why God has certain laws. Especially if they are laws that go against what society says is the right thing to do. We live in a world that justifies things as ok, just because so many people are doing them. My son told me yesterday that 2.55 million middle schooler and high schoolers vape. He said 14% of high schoolers vape. Basically he was trying to tell me that it is normal and not a big deal. I know he is a teenager and this is how teenagers think. I remember his brother telling me that every kid vapes. I am sure it felt that way to him. Although, if you think about it, even though 14% is way to high of a percentage of our teens to be vaping, that still leaves 86% that are not. So the fact that they think “everyone” is vaping is not quite true. Although whether it is actually true or not does not change their perception.
Teenagers do this a lot. If there friends are dong it, then it seems like “everyone” is doing it because everyone they hang around with is doing it. Also, I am sure they see people vaping in class or in the bathroom. You wouldn’t think kids could vape in class as you wouldn’t see someone lighting up a cigarette in the middle of class. However, with how easy vapes are too conceal and with fruity flavors, there is little smell and also very little smoke. It’s not just vaping either. One of my other sons talks trash to his friends while playing video games. I hear him say the rudest things and when I ask him about it he says they are all saying the same kind of stuff. Another one of my sons says he types insults back and forth with his friend. It is strange to me as I don’t understand why. They say it is “normal” and that is just what kids do.
So far I have been talking about teens and we all know teens say, “everyone is doing it.” This is typical for a teen, I am sure I am not telling you anything you don’t know. However, are their things in your life that you do and you aren’t sure why you do them? Or things you know that you do because everyone else does them. Or maybe that isn’t why you do them, but that is the justification for doing them. Have you ever done something that was wrong and then tried to think of someone else you knew that did the same thing so you could justify it to yourself? I know I did this when I was watching Game of Thrones with Tony. It was a good show and I really liked the story line and yet there was way to much sex in this show. I knew while I was watching it that God did not approve. I justified it thinking about all the Catholic people I knew that had watched it. I justified it by thinking about all the people around the world that watched it. An average episode had 32.7 million viewers. How could something so many people were doing, be wrong?
I ask how it could be wrong and yet I knew in my soul it was wrong. Does that ever happen to you? You are doing something you know you shouldn’t do and you just feel something deep inside telling you not to do it. This is why I like this verse. The verse says, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” God’s laws are not meant to be a punishment. They are meant to be guardrails for us. They are meant to help keep us on the road to heaven because God loves us and wants to spend eternity with us. God’s laws are meant to keep us from eternal suffering. Which one of us wants eternal suffering? Any takers? No, I didn’t think so. This verse is asking God to show is the wonderful things in His law. It is asking Him to show us the beauty of it.
Things are easier to do if we know the why. If we can understand why we are being asked to do what we are being asked to do we are more likely to do it. For instance, do you remember when your parents said, “Because I said so.” or maybe you remember when you said that same phrase to your children? How did that work out for you with your kids? How did it work out for your parents with you? In my experience it does not work out as well as when I explain what I need the kids to do. They want to understand there is a purpose to what I am asking them to do.
Sometimes we don’t understand why God is asking us to do things. There are reasons and I am pretty sure there is an explanation for everything God has asked us to do. I know at least in the Catholic Church, we have a book called the Catholicism of the Catholic Church. This explains why we believe all we believe. However, not all of us have read that. I know I haven’t. Although now I am listening to a little bit of it each day as Father Mike reads it to me on his podcast and then explains what he just read. It is a great way to learn more about why we have the rules we have and believe the things we believe. I know for me, the more I learn about the why, the more I want to follow God’s laws. The more I learn about them the more I realize God didn’t give us these laws for His benefit. They are not arbitrary and they are not just meant to make our lives harder. Each one has a purpose and all of them together are mean to keep us in relationship with God.
Have you ever gone bowling with kids and you put the bumpers up so they can’t get a gutter ball? If you don’t know what I am talking about, bowling alleys have these rails that come up and cover the bumpers. What would happen if you didn’t put the bumpers up? In my experience, every time the kids throws the ball, it goes into the gutter. This makes the game very frustrating for them as they can’t seem to make any progress. They don’t have any fun because they don’t get to knock down any pins. I feel like God is saying life without His laws would be the same. If everyone was just doing whatever they wanted without following any laws, we would be very frustrated and we wouldn’t get anywhere. God’s laws point us in the right direction and help us stay on track. They are there to help us enjoy life more, not to limit us and take away our fun.
Although, our idea of what is fun could be tainted by the world we live in. We see everyone doing things that seem fun and we want to do them even though we know we shouldn’t. The time we spend on this world is so small compared to eternity in the next life. The enemy wants us to focus on the here and now and not worry about the future. We need to be thinking about the future. We don’t need to obsess about it, but if we want to spend eternity with our heavenly Father, as He wants all of His children to do, then we do need to make good choices now. Again, this is why I love this verse. We are asking our father to show us the wonderful things in His law. Basically we are asking Him to help us see His laws in a new light. Give us new eyes to see the laws, help us to see how great they are instead of looking at them like a burden.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord we love you so much and we want to spend eternity with you. We thank you for your laws and we ask that you show us how wonderful they are. Help us to see them through your eyes Lord. Help us to see they are for our benefit and not for our punishment. Help us to see they are to keep us safe and not to control us. Help us to see they are from a loving Father. Your laws were made with love and I can’t get enough of that. Lord, you are so amazing. You have thought of everything and we are so grateful. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Oh, also, happy St. Patrick’s Day if you are listening to this the day I recorded it. This St. Patrick’s Day might be a bit different since it is a Friday during lent. Corned Beef and Cabbage might not be possible today, but you can always have it another day. Have a blessed weekend!