Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“Great peace have they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”
Psalm 119:165
“To offend” is an old way of saying “to cause to sin.” So, what this verse in Psalms is saying is that there is nothing that can cause you to sin if you truly love God’s law. Holding God’s law – His will – dear to your heart creates a protective shield around the soul so that no suffering, no pleasure, no family, no job opportunity, no disappointment – nothing – can move you from the sweet and holy ways of God.
But the best thing about loving God’s law is not merely that nothing can move you away from Jesus but that while you are not being moved, you have peace. When you love God’s law, you suffer no inward struggle, as if you are constantly in a battle with the devil. All that kind of warfare is over when God fully wins your heart. “Great peace” means just what it says. David wrote this verse because he had experienced the great peace that followed his complete submission to God, and he wanted other children of God to know that such a peace existed and that it was there for them if they wanted it.
During his more than sixty years in the service of Christ, my father saw many children of God suffer needlessly because of their own lack of commitment to Christ. He learned that a double-minded person has no peace, but is constantly engaged in inward conflict. That knowledge must be the reason that one of my father’s favorite old hymns was this one:
“Is Your All On The Altar?”
You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot find rest or be perfectly blessed
Until all on the altar is laid.
- Chorus -
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest, and have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.
2
Would you walk with the Lord, in the light of His word,
And have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His good will to be free from all ill,
On the altar your all you must lay.
3
Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.
4
Who can tell all the love He will send down from above,
Or how happy our hearts may be made,
or the fellowship sweet we will share at Jesus’ feet,
when our all on the altar is laid?