Your word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path. I have vowed and solemnly sworn to keep your just regulations. I am suffering terribly. O Lord, revive me with your word! O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise! Teach me your regulations! My life is in continual danger, but I do not forget your law. The wicked lay a trap for me, but I do not wander from your precepts. I claim your rules as my permanent possession, for they give me joy. I am determined to obey your statutes at all times, to the very end.
At the time of creation, God gave us only a few rules for living together. Unfortunately, we disobeyed and more restrictions were necessary. After the Exodus, He gave us the Ten Commandments that we might live and grow together. There were and still are issues among us because we fail to obey His word.
When God led Israel out of captivity in Egypt, they were a rag tag group of freed slaves. God gave them guidance and training about how to live together with Him and each other. Without His word it would have been chaos where “everyone did what what was right in their own eyes” – Judges 21:25.
God invites us to be part of His plan but we must accept and obey. He has blessed us with His wisdom and care but we are prone to ignore His laws and go our own way. Without a loving connection to Him and one another, we choose to serve ourselves and that path leads to death.
Gracious God, we are sorry for the times we have broken Your law and ignored our responsibilities to You and each other. Mend us and send us to share Your love with all the world. Amen.
