The Day of Atonement

Scripture:
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
    for my hope is in Your rules.
I will keep Your law continually,
    forever and ever,  -Psalm 119:43-44, ESV

Observation:
-My hope is in God and His ways
-This life we have is something that needs continual attention.

Iced Tree-photo by Deb Davis November 2013

Application:
"I will keep your law continually."  That is what I am thinking about this morning in terms of our life in Christ.  Our lives are marked by the grace of God, it is all His work, and yet, there is something I long to do.  This life I have been given fills me with such gratitude that I want to obey His very words.  I want to serve Him to the best of my abilities.  I want to be that salt and light He talks about.  And so I continually work at obeying His commands.  It is something I desire to do even more with each passing day.  Yes, I fail miseably at times, but His grace has covered all of those times already.  Christ died for me once for all, all of my past, all of my future.  Today I will not surprise Him with anything I do or leave undone.  
My hope really is in His rules.  That may seem like an odd thing to say for a born-again believer.  I can never be justified by His rules-the Law cannot save me but only reveals what a sinner I am.  The Law teaches me that apart from Christ I am doomed to failure and separation from God.  Even in the Old Testament God provided a way for the people of Israel, for He knew they could never be perfect on their own.  This was the Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16:29-30)  God built into HIs law a way of redemption for on the Day of Atonement a sacrfices were offered to God and He forgave the sins of the people- they were completely removed Israel.  God loved His people so much that He knew they would be forever separated from Him when they chose to live in disobedience to His laws, when they did not live according to the covenant He established with them.  He wanted to be their God, to walk among them.  In order for that to happen their had to be a Day of Atonement.  For us that happened when Jesus died on the cross-the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world.  That once for all sacrifice never has to be repeated. 
We are no longer under the Law but we "show the work of the Law written on our hearts" (Romans 2:12-16)  Because we think highly of the riches of God's kindness, His tolerance and patience we live in such a way that causes us to persevere in doing good. (Romans 2:4-7)

So this Psalm is still very applicable to us today.  Because of the wonderful gift of God's grace we choose to repent of our sin- we choose to live in a way that honors and brings glory to God.  It is the law written on our hearts.  We do not live this way in order to be saved, we lived this way because we have been saved, because the blood of the Lamb has taken all of our sins away and we bear them no more.  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh, my soul! (It is Well With My Soul)

Deb

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