Freedom

Psalm 119:45, ” I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.”

You are familiar with graffiti. Most of the time I cannot read it. But this time it was different. In big letters was written on the wall:” Take the law off our backs.”

Was that a cry for help? I think it was a cry for freedom.

Many years ago I read in Reader’s Digest and will not forget, what I read.” There is no real freedom without a sense of responsibility.”Who is right? The graffiti man or Reader’s Digest. Let the Bible, the Word of God be the judge. In Psalm 119:45 the psalmist says,” I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments,” And in the same Psalm in verse 32 he cries out,” I run in the paths of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”

So the truth is that there is no freedom without a sense of responsibility. We are responsible to the law of God and we must also be responsible to the law of the land as long as it is not in conflict with the law of God. Then we have real freedom.

Let me conclude with an example. The law of this country dictates that we drive on the left side of the road. What if that was not a law? You can imagine the results. And of course our heart wants to be set free and has to be set free.

When we allow God’s word to be a lamp to our feet and a light for our path it will be set free indeed.

wd

Praying to the Lord
In Psalm 116 it says at the beginning,” I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long a I live.”

The Lord is answering prayers. It says in the Bible “You do not have, because you do not ask.” That is in James 4:2 at the end. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are washed in the blood of the lamb, love the Lord and have a living relationship with him. The Lord is answering our prayers and I personally believe that he is giving us more than we ask for. Just two examples from my own life: I love books. I love writing. From early childhood it was my desire to have to do with books. Selling them etc. I do not know why. The time came during my Bible School Time that I had to sell books almost every evening for a certain time. I sold Bibles and other Christian books. So I did not sell any kind of books but I sold books for the Lord.

I also had the desire to become a teacher in a State School. I never managed to become one. I trained as missionary instead . But the Lord gives us more than we ask for. During my time with the United Maori Mission I did not teach any kind of subject in one school but I was able to teach the Bible in many many Schools in the Mid North of Northland (NZ).

So, let us rejoice.

The Lord is answering our prayers and most of the time he is giving us more than we ask for, because he knows best and better.

wd