The Burr in the Burgh

At a meeting on Tuesday, President Wenthe led a devotion on Psalm 1. The english translates v.2 this way:

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The word for "law" there, of course, is torah. The point Dr. Wenthe made is that the Hebrew word torah, though usually rendered as "law," can also refer to gospel.

What do I mean by law and gospel? Both are God's word but they do different things to me. The law kills and the gospel gives life. The law accuses and the gospel pardons. It is impossible for my sinful heart to delight in being accused and killed by the law. But the new me in Christ can delight in the law as the necessary prelude to the gospel which justifies me and regenerates me.

But I want to shine the spotlight on the word "delights." The message of Christ is delightful. Being a child of God is delightful. It is a delight to follow Christ. It is a delight to hear his words. It is a delight to reside in his church. And it is a delight to serve others in his name.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm all for gloom, despair and agony. They're actually my personal specialty. Left alone, I'd be the sourest, meanest, angriest, most self-pitying, most introverted cuss in the world. But "delight?" That has to come from outside myself.

Organic pathologies aside, it just seems to me that the more we get the idea that we are clean in Christ and in God's good favor, the delight would bust our seams.