Feb 12 2020 Psalm 119: 97-120

Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind.

I like to knit. I like to knit lace, with intricate patterns. It looks like a mess when you’re knitting it, but when you’re done, you stretch it out and the patterns take shape. It’s surprisingly not complicated, but it does require keeping track of what you’ve just done – where you are in the pattern. Then it’s easy. You follow the pattern, stitch by stitch, and voila! It’s something pretty when you’re done.

It was in knitting lace that I discovered a cognitive problem I have. I could not, for the life of me, remember what stitch I’d just completed, or what row I was on in the pattern. I’d have to go back and count from the beginning of the row. I’ve since introduced some knitting hacks that mostly solve that problem, things like writing a pattern out row by row on notecards, and flipping the cards when I’m done with a row. Or putting little jump rings in the knitting every 10 stitches.

I mention this because it was from that knitting epiphany that I realized I need memory hacks for all sorts of things in life. Now I have all sorts of things that help me with very short term memory.

I’m wondering if Jesus did a similar thing. In the Hebrew law, there were hundreds of rules and laws, all for the glory of God, or their understanding of God’s desires at the time. Some of the laws were likely introduced for practical health reasons, like washing hands and avoiding pork. But all were done for the glory of God.

So when I read that the psalmist loves God’s laws, and meditates on them, I admit to feeling overwhelmed. How could the psalmist remember all of the laws? Maybe that’s why they needed to meditate on them all day.

And then Jesus comes along and simplifies the law, providing a memory trick that solves my problem of not being able to remember simple things. He summarized, or restated the law as super simple, even something that I can remember. Love God. Love your Neighbor. Bam!

Now all of a sudden, I have access to all the law. Love God. Love your neighbor. With this simple repackaging, even I can meditate on the law.

This morning, I’m thinking about God’s law in all its simplicity. It is easy to love God’s law, when it’s that simple, that encompassing, and that easy to remember. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that it’s easy, but I have a fighting chance of following the law, since I can remember what it is. Now, I love to meditate on your law and I don’t even need index cards.