Psalm 1

1:2 - But his delight is in the law of the Lord. . .

In contrast to what he does not do, the blessed person's delight is in the law of the Lord. The translation "law" for Hebrew torah is quite unfortunate. "Law" carries connotations of legality for many people. Others associate it with the inevitability of misfortune if it is transgressed, such as when the "law" of gravity is defied when one steps off the twelfth floor window. Torah is an altogether more homely word, and a more appropriate translation is 'instructions,' such as those that a father or a mother would teach to their children (Prov 1:8; 3:1; 6:20; 28:7) or the counsel of the wise (Prov 13:14; 31:26).

From what we delight in we derive the greatest joy. With what we delight in we are most satisfied. To what we delight in we give our utmost in time, effort, and affection. Whatever else may delight the righteous person, the law of the Lord has a central place. It is of particular interest that in a book like the Psalms, in which the grace of God is so manifest, that the first thing it says about the righteous person'—the person who has the privilege of unimpeded access to God's presence and help—should be his delight in His torah. In contrast there is a fab, particularly viral in many urban churches in Asia today, that the Christian, being saved by grace, has no need for the law. There is no need to understand the law, it is argued, since they are obsolete, and no need to obey them because, however we live our lives, all our sins—past, present, and future—have been and will be forgiven. This false teaching is simply a modern rephrasing of the age-old heresy of antinomianism that Paul refutes with such rigour in Rom 6. This heresy confuses its theology by forgetting that the antithesis of grace is not the law. The antithesis of grace is egotism. A person who has been redeemed by grace, and understands that she has been so redeemed, will respond by living a life pleasing to God. But how does such a person know what is pleasing to God? The answer—the only answer—is the torah, whether that torah is "You shall not murder" from the Old Testament, or "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" from the New. It alone is the lamp that lights the path leading to the heart of God. It alone is the compass that points true north to all that God wills for our lives. To live by God's decrees is to die to ourselves. To live by the torah is to declare that we are insufficient in and of ourselves to know what is good and right, to acknowledge that we need to live by the grace of God. To live by the torah is to declare that we desire to please God, to say that we are thankful to Him. A life lived by the torah exhibits the full significance of grace, for it fulfils the spiritual rebirth that is rooted in and empowered by grace. To live by the torah is to affirm that God is God, that He knows best, that He has every right over us. To live by the torah is to fully surrender to the God who, by His grace and mercy, had made us and redeemed us from ourselves. This is the antithesis of egotism. Egotism is the exaltation of the self, the declaration that "I" am the defining centre of our existence, that "I, not God," decides how I live and die. This being its essence, egotism has no place for the law of God. Those who know they have been redeemed by the grace of God, on the other hand, delight in it.