No Higher Calling

Week 17

"I will delight myself in they statutes . . .
Your servant meditates on your statutes. . .
I have hoped in your ordinances. . .
My hands also will I lift up to your
commandments which I love. . .
your statutes have been my songs."
--Psalm 119: 16, 23, 43, 48

The Statutes with Rhythm Section

I don't recall in law school much singing about the "law" or local ordinances, of any musical versions of the General Statutes of our state or the the United States Code. As far as I know there is no department of the Congress charged with developing a civil code hymnbook with meter and keys.

In fact, the idea seems preposterous -- incongruous - oxymoronic. Music and Law don't seem to fit much at all, do they? The law is so stuffy, rigid, devoid of feeling, mechanical, laborious -- surely it isn't the stuff of which melody or rhythm are suited. Music is about passion, about the spirit. Law is about dusty and dry words!

And yet the Psalmist seems to see it quite differently. The whole 119th Psalm, as well as others, is a hymn of praise to the LAW: to statutes, ordinances, and commandments. For David, the LAW of God -- his order and demand -- is the cause of purity v.9), joy (v.14), life (v.17), wonder (v. 18), strength (v. 28), hope (v. 43), liberty (v. 45), comfort (v. 52) . . etc.

I think our understanding/misunderstanding of law and its glory and wonder comes from at least three sources: first, we misunderstand Paul's teaching that we cannot find salvation and righteousness in the "Law," but only in the GRACE of God -- the hopelessness of thinking we can please God by means of the Law. We think because the Law can't provide redemption, that it is worthless or replaced, or only for OLD Testament times, or worse, for Pharisees. So "LAW" has gotten a bad reputation. Because we can't be justified by the LAW, we too easily have shelved it, or worse, abandoned it.

Also perhaps the LAW has lost its glory because of our misunderstanding of freedom -- both spiritual and maybe even political. By natural instinct we don't like rules and regulations -- they are seen as confining, restricting, inhibiting to us. We want "liberty." It's as old a theme as the Garden of Eden. It's as modern as every child's self-indulgent demands to have their own way. In political life today, that mantra of "freedom" and individual rights is the chant of those who strike out at rules, traditions, discipline and limits. It is the "do your own thing" and "live and let live" culture of our day. Unlike an older culture which saw maturity and adulthood as mastering self-control and limiting "self" and controlling appetite -- now the dominant culture finds such restrictions an unwanted imposition and insists that maturity is throwing off these shackles and living "life to the full." The political consequence of moral and social anarchy is evident -- and is paralleled by a spiritual anarchy as well. (Romans 1 describes the consequences of unbridled freedom.)

Finally I suppose the foolishness of man's law -- too often its arbitrariness, silliness and injustice -- encourage a cynical view of law's role and its potential. It's the observation of one of Shakespeare's character: "The law is an ass." We see that at times in our own law practices. The law is so inadequate, and at times so stupid. We certainly don't commence district court with a hymn of praise to the Motor Vehicle Code.

For the Psalmist David, he knew well from his own life that it was only the grace of God which could cleanse and justify -- but he also knew the wonder and glory of God's order -- His rules and statutes. And in them he did not find burdens and barriers, but joy and real liberty. He knew the law of God was a way to wholeness and joy -- in the same way a road through a rocky mountain terrain is not a confining instrument, but a liberating device -- it provides a sure and safe path through the dangers. To leave the road is reckless endangerment.

It was I believe the famous Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton who noted that "without discipline, freedom doesn't know what to do with itself." Law provides the boundaries, the signposts that allow real freedom to flourish. It is like a treasure map, or a chart of the oases in the desert. No one lost or thirsty, discovering such a guide would complain of the burden of the discovery -- but rather would rejoice.

We lawyers ought to know how blessed good law can be -- how it may encourage responsibility, care, and justice. The way it can be, as one justice noted, "the moral deposit of a civilization." We have seen in our generations the tragedy of societies with no legal standard at all -- where only sheer power ruled. Today we urge the Rule of Law because the law, despite its human limits -- MAY be an instrument of life and security.

So it is with God's law. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light to my path." God has not left us without direction. His commands and statutes are wonderful gifts to us. So when we sing and lift hands of praise -- surely do so for the grace and mercy of God, for the cross of Christ, for the redemption of the blood of the Lamb -- but join also with David in a joyful song of praise for the commandments and statutes of the Lord. And make that song in a major key with a strong rhythm section, get a band with some trumpets and cymbals and some booming voices -- and then declare: "Oh, How I Love Your Law" Psalm 119:97.

"...the law remains one of the greatest and richest gifts of God. It is incomparable. It is a holy, righteous and good thing." -- Markus Barth

Lynn Buzzard
USA