Running with a Free Heart: Psalm 119:25-32

Today's passage has such beautiful imagery!  Here is the whole passage, with my favorite parts highlighted:

25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.
26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.
27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
29 Keep my from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law.

30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.


In the first section, note the pattern of each sentence: law, and gospel.  We sin, we are sorrowful, we are burdened with our sin and God's laws: but he preserves our lives, he teaches us, he strengthens us and is gracious to us.
Verse 28 really strikes a chord with me, because often my sin causes my soul to be "weary with sorrow".  I HATE sinning against God, yet I do all the time!  This is wearying and saddening to me.  But God in his great mercy strengthens me according to his word: this is gospel.

In verse 30 the psalmist tells us what is truth: God's laws.  We live in a culture where the definition of truth is so widely varied, and here we see what it really is.  This I cling to.

Verse 32 is probably my favorite.  It's just a beautiful picture of what God does for us.  We in our sinful state are stuck in the slavery of sin and death.  God's law binds and burdens us.  But God through Jesus has set us FREE from that law!  Our hearts are FREE because Jesus paid the ransom for our sins.  We are free to "run in the path of God's commands".  His laws don't bog us down anymore; instead of being the walkway to death they are the path of life.  This verse brings to mind a picture of a frolicking (I love that word), happy child, free from care or worry, skipping along a sunlit, flower-strewn path.  Living in the love and grace of God is great!

Today, I am going to realize the freedom I have in Jesus, and run in the path of his commands with a free heart!