As a child, I was obedient. I could follow the rules. I could get the gold stars. I could do the check list like no other. Give me a rule, and I would comply. Sound much like a Pharisee? Or, at least a good “One” on the Enneagram chart?

There’s no quicker way to a total crash than by obeying rules for the wrong reasons. Just because they’re rules.

As an adult, I still love rules. But now I have fallen in love with the Ruler Giver. The Lover of my Soul. The Author of my Salvation. The rules now bring delight.

Delight is found in following the commands of God.

I will obey your word.

Beauty is found in obedience.

I have loved the Word of God for many years, but now I have come to deeply love and delight in God’s Word, not only for it being the Holy Word of God, but also because of its beauty.

I love the beauty of God’s words, not just for the sake of following a command or out of fear, but also out of delight. Sheer delight. I want to run in the path of his commands because he has set my heart free (Psalm 119:32 NIV).

Encountering words that would have formerly struck terror in me and caused me to fear, now cause me to trust in the beauty of God’s sovereignty. To savor it. To stand in awe of it. To delight in it. I find great hope in God’s words in Job 38, as He proclaims His presence from the beginning, marking out the foundations of the world and establishing boundaries.

The image of God halting the waves and commanding the sea brings beautiful trust in the sovereignty of God. Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed (Job 38: 11 ESV).

I love Psalm 119. It is my favorite psalm. We often memorize some of the verses in Psalm 119 about storing God’s Word in our heart, seeking God with our whole heart, and lighting our path with His Word.

Yes, let’s continue to store up, seek, and stay on His path, but all while following the One who is leading and knowing why He is leading us there.

Psalm 1 calls us to meditate on God’s Word both day and night. The tree being nourished by streams of water is both beautiful and life giving. Meditating. Contemplating. Pondering.

Jonathan Edwards, the colonial American pastor-theologian wrote in his Personal Narrative (WJE 16: 797) of his overwhelming joy in Scripture soon after his conversion. “I had the greatest delight in the Holy Scriptures, of any book whatsoever, often-times in reading it, every word seemed to touch my heart … I used often-times to dwell long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it; and yet almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders.” Dwelling. Delighting. Longing. Lingering. Loving. The Word of God.

So, let’s continue to hold the terror of the law in tandem with its beauty. Savor the beauty and delight in it. When the law becomes beauty, love the law. It is the path to freedom.

I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word (Psalm 119:16 ESV).