There is pushback from God's laws. Always has been and always will be. Cain had an issue early on, so did Noah's contemporaries. Too restrictive. Too little faith. In modern day, I hear, Why would I listen to a concept created to control men and women by the patriarchy?
But, while reading Proverbs this morning, I had clarity. The beautiful clarity that comes from stillness, from opening the good book almost before anything else. While sitting in the morning coolness, wrapped in a blanket, clouds overhead, the chirping of hummingbirds fluttering at the feeder.
"Oh hello there little guy." And a conversation with the hummingbird who hovers next my face.
Proverbs chapter 3 verse 1: "My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments:"
Already, so much is packed into one simple line. Don't keep the commandments for commandments sake. Keep them in your heart. The things we keep in our hearts--memories, love, sacrifices made, are there because they are dear to us. The Lord is asking for his law to be or to become dear to us.
But why would he ask such a thing?
His request is followed by the reason for his request: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall add to thee.
It's the PEACE that appeals to me.
I've watched friends, family, myself, forget the law. Peace is the companion to God's law. To forsake one requires the relinquishment of the other. They aren't mutually exclusive. They don't cancel each other out. They cohabitate; they're strengthened in each other's company. If one exists, so does the other. It's a promise that stands the test of disregard and whole-hearted adoption.
God's greatest commandment is to love God and to love thy neighbor as thyself. Think of the great peace from loving. Think of the unrest that comes from the absence of love. Again, we know both. Love and peace aren't mutually exclusive either. They naturally rest with one another. They are the lock and the key. They are sliding into the perfect-fit pair of jeans or a hot spring after a hike.
God's laws and commandments bring peace.
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