Law

If my delight had not been in your law . . . 

 - From Psalm 119

Again with The Law. 

With great consistency, the Old Testament repeats the theme of God's Word, and the Law. Yes, Christ overcame the Law. He both ratified it, and made it obsolete, in a classic application of godly incompatibility.

But the emphasis on God's Law is unquestionable throughout the OT. The law set up what was to come. It clarified our problem: we die, because we sin. Sin is that big of a problem. And to become eternal, we must become like God. Thus the Law came, so that we could learn through one historical object lesson after another.

Here, the Psalmist declares the connection of God's law, to our happiness. Far from making us miserable through a set of rules, the Law protects, guides, and enlivens us. That is, if you apply it correctly. 

"Delight," and "law," within the same context. 

When we come across people mocking the Old Testament, pointing out its illogic, its brutality and apparent injustice, we need to remember that, since they are not delighting in it, therefore, they are not getting it. We acknowledge all of those problems with the Law, and the Old Testament narrative. We talk about them all the time, and always have. When skeptics point this out to us, it is not as though we have never noticed it. 

But the eyes of faith see the straight line that connects all of it to Christ and eternity. 

And that's delightful.