The Antidote to Godlessness

but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  Psalm 1:2

Delight – Intimate excitement.  Emotional pleasure.  Compelling desire.  Are those the kinds of expressions that come to mind when you think about God’s law?  Haphets is a Hebrew word that finds its way into stories of love between friends (David and Jonathan), royal affairs (Esther) and a love tryst (Song of Solomon).  It is emotionally supercharged.  Is that the way you feel about God’s word? 

Do you open the Bible with a sense of expectation?  Do you find that you just can’t live without it, that your day is a mess unless you start in the Word?  Are you fascinated, intrigued, passionate and amazed by God’s revelation?

Remember your first romantic love?  Remember the giddy feelings, the heartache of absence, the expectation of embrace?  Remember the joy in your heart?  Then you will have some appreciation for haphets, and for the delight that a person feels when God’s law becomes the love of life.

David tells us that the antidote to the godlessness described in the first verse of Psalms is found in this word, haphets.  When God’s law brings forth such deep emotional response that it rivals my feelings for my spouse and my dearest friend, then I have nothing to fear from the path of the wicked.  My heart throb pants after God.  When God’s law brings joy to my soul because it represents my deepest desire, then I am confident standing before Him.  My feelings toward the Lord are unsullied.

No wonder David can say, “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4) as the means to your true destiny.   David proclaims God’s decrees are as desirable as wealth: “I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches” (Psalm 119:127).  David knows that God’s ways are life itself:  “I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight”  Psalm 119:174.

We are called to a spiritual affair of the heart, not a mental assent to ethical behavior.  Don’t ever let go of that deep love.  It is the quintessential expression of devotion.