I love the psalms. I love them because the Psalter gives eloquent and honest voice to the full range of human experience of the divine--the joys, the sorrows, the hope, the despair, the laughter, the anger. All of it is in the psalms. It is for this reason that a selection from the Psalter has always been a cornerstone of Christian worship from its earliest days.
This Sunday we go back to the beginning of the Psalter and will hear Psalm 1. "Happy are they who . . . take delight in the law of the Lord," the Psalmist writes. "They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither."
Yet, what does it really mean to "take delight in the law of the Lord"? As good Lutherans, aren't we taught that the gospel of love displaces works of the law? Not quite. As Frederick Buechner explains with characteristic brevity and wit, the gospel of love doesn't supersede the law, but rather completes and fulfills it. In Buechner’s words:
"There are basically two kinds of law: (1) law as the way things ought to be, and (2) law as the way things are. An example of the first is ‘No Trespassing.’ An example of the second is the law of gravity.
God's law has traditionally been spelled out in terms of category no. 1, a compendium of dos and don'ts. These dos and don'ts are the work of moralists and, when obeyed, serve the useful purpose of keeping us from each other's throats. They can't make us human, but they can help keep us honest.
God's law in itself, however, comes under category no. 2 and is the work of God. It has been stated in seven words: "Whoever does not love abides in death" (1 John 3:14). Like it or not, that's how it is. If you don't believe it, you can always put it to the test just the way if you don't believe the law of gravity, you can always step out a tenth-story window." [from Wishful Thinking]
Stated differently, to take delight in the law of the Lord is nothing more and nothing less than to abide in God’s love.