Love for God’s Word as Our Law

When some people recall their childhoods, they remark, “Dad’s word was law” or “Mom’s word was law.” We know what they mean. What came out of their father’s or mother’s mouth was the final word, no ifs, ands, or buts. God says this is the right way for kids to think about their world: “Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1)

How much more so should we think of God’s Word as “law.” God’s Word is filled with promises, exhortations, encouragements, histories, poetry, etc., and we sometimes think of all of these “categories” as separate from the “law” portion of God’s Word. And that, of course, is one way to speak about it all. But in another not only important but vital sense, all of God’s Word—including all of the exhortations, encouragements, promises, histories, and poetry—are “law,” that is, everything that God says is true, the final authority, and that which communicates to us His will. God’s Word is our “rule for living.” God’s Word above all else—every word that comes out of His mouth—is the right way for us to think about our world.

Psalm 119 is a beautiful prayer-song that gives expression to our love and devotion to God’s Word as Our Law. Pray it with zeal, fervency, and gratitude—but this psalm is also a good guide for honestly confessing our lack of these things and for earnestly crying out for God to increase them.

Psalm 119:97–104
Oh, how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients,
Because I keep Your precepts.
I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.
I have not departed from your judgments,
For You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.

“Lord God, ever increase our love for Your law, for Your Word as our law. Make it truly our meditation all the day—keep Your law and Your will before our mind’s eye at all times. Through Your Word, dear God, grant to us wisdom and understanding that excels; and through Your Word, holy Father, keep us from every evil way. We pray Your Word-Law would be sweeter to our taste than anything else, that we would feed on it not only regularly but with incomparable delight and desire. May Your Word, dear God, be our only rule for living, our only lens through which we view our world. We pray in Christ’s name and for His sake. Amen.”