No Parked Cars

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” (Ps 119:165 AV)

The word ‘…offend…’ here does not mean to take insult at.  It means to be stumbled.  A stumbling block.  There are two benefits here to loving the law of God.  The first is a peace.  A peace that can be had no other way.  Of knowing what is right and pursuing it.  When one fails, to make it right and get up and try again.  The other is a path of life free from stumbling blocks.  Nothing will trip you up.

I am reading a book in preparation of a series on addiction.  In the book, the writer says the only way to overcome addiction is to hate the consequences of sin more than one loves the pleasures of sin for a season.  As a young lad, I had my share of scraps and bumps.  Most could be avoided.  One such disaster I repeated a second time.  It appeared as though my sister Mary had a way of distracting my attention while we rode our bikes.  She might have planned it, I don’t know.  The first time, we were riding rather fast and she was engaging me in some conversation.  Because I was not looking, I ran right into the back of a parked car.  She had a hoot.  However, the second time was a little more serious.  This time, she challenged me to a race down Cherry street.  Cherry street was a downhill street.  The challenge was to get going as fast as one could then stop peddling at the top to see if we could make it all the way to the bottom without peddling again.  As we crested the hill, she again had my attention.  However, this time she yelled out a warning.  Too late, I hit that parked car so hard that I flipped off my bike almost over the entire car.  Needless to say, that was the last time I allowed my sister to distract me!   I hated the consequences of hitting parked cars more that the pleasure of competition!

We must love the law more than we hate the consequences of our actions.  This will free us from the offense of hitting a parked car.  To love the law is to avoid sin.  To love the law is to have peace with God!  To love the law is to know that we are right with God and we are free from a relentless enemy that seeks only our destruction!