“What a wonderful law! I love it so much that I can hardly think about anything else.”
That’s not a common sentiment, of course. Some laws are disliked, even hated. Most are pretty mundane. Even when we feel a particular law has merit, we don’t tend to feel affection toward it or spend our days in awe of it. Yet that’s exactly the spirit conveyed by the author of Psalm 119, who enthused, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (verse 97). And by all indications, he really meant it.
The psalm, which is the longest chapter in the Bible, is a poem of praise and contemplation of this law—not a human law, but divine law. Infused with jubilation, heart, and assurance, it speaks to the peace, wisdom, and other blessings that come from faithfulness to God’s law—from letting God’s goodness and love animate our thoughts and actions, following the path that Christ Jesus pointed out.
