Let Freedom Ring

I was a rebellious child growing up.

I like to blame it on the fact that I was the first born, but I know it’s just in my DNA. My mom has all sorts of stories about me doing things that I wasn’t supposed to because I didn’t want to listen to her. A few being:

– Not saying “thank you” for my juice (I went two whole weeks without it because I refused to say it)

– Telling people to go away after they told me I was cute (oops)

– Running in the exact direction my mom told me not to go (with a grin a mile wide)

There are so many more, I can’t begin to list them all. Of course, as I got older, the disobedience leveled up as well. It’s something that has never changed with me – even as a 24 year old.

I want to do things my own way.

Thankfully though, I now understand why my parents set the rules that they did. I look back and realize that it was all in order to protect me – from myself and the world.

But it seems kind of backwards to say there was freedom in those rules? To say that obedience is the best route to joy? Doesn’t freedom mean making my own decisions and not having to follow the rules?

Psalm 119:45&46 says,

“I will walk freely in an open place because I seek Your precepts. I will speak of Your decrees before kings and not be ashamed.” (HCSB, emphasis mine)

As I read the commentary for these particular verses, I was struck by a few different statements. The first being,

“Freedom is found in obedience and submission to God.” (David Guzik, Enduring Word: Psalm 119)

Honestly, I don’t like that sentence. I don’t like the words “obedience” and “submission.” I automatically recoil from them as if I’ve been hit.

The truth is though, freedom cannot be found apart from God.

Why?

Because if you don’t serve God, you serve your sin. And sin is a much meaner task master. It has you working day in and day out to prove your worth to the world – with no success.

Chasing the things of this world promises to fulfill you and only leaves you wanting more. You’re always having to work for it. You always have to put in the effort to be enough.

You serve the world and you end up in heavy chains.

Serving God is the only way to experience real freedom because only God can defeat the power of sin. It’s only through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross that sin is beaten for good.

In God, we find the fullness of who we are. His “rules” give us the freedom to be who He’s created us to be and discover that our value rests in Him.

The commentary then goes on to say,

“Saints find no bondage in sanctity. The Spirit of holiness is that of a free Spirit; he sets men at liberty and enables them to resist every effort to bring them under subjection. The way of holiness is not a track for slaves, but a King’s highway for freeman. – Spurgeon” (David Guzik)

Meaning?

God doesn’t want our obedience and submission because He desires to oppress us and control us. He desires it because He wants to PROTECT us. When we walk in His instruction, we find freedom and protection from the sin that weighs us down.

Finding real freedom means that we no longer have to fear what other people think of us. We no longer have to overwork ourselves because our value doesn’t come from a dollar sign. We no longer have to meet the impossible standards that the world has set because they didn’t make us who we are.

God did.

Which is exactly what verse 46 is telling us,

“I will speak of Your decrees before kings and not be ashamed.” (Emphasis mine)

Replace “kings” with anyone you know and it still works.

I can speak of Jesus before my peers and not be ashamed because I walk in His freedom.

I can speak of Jesus before the leaders of this world and not be ashamed because I have confidence in Him alone.

I can speak of Jesus before my enemies and opponents and not be ashamed because I have His strength.

Obedience to God offers me freedom from the world.

So you know what?

Let freedom ring.