Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 119 verses 65 through 68:
65 O Lord, you have dealt graciously with your servant, *
according to your word.
66 Teach me discernment and knowledge, *
for I have believed in your commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, *
but now I keep your word.
68 You are good and you bring forth good; *
instruct me in your statutes.
Julian of Norwich wrote, "First the fall, then the redemption; both the grace of God."
It is true that there is not so much a fall from grace as there is a fall into grace; and those who have found grace are thankful for it. For it is the fall, or what the Psalmist today calls, the "affliction" that brings us to our senses. It is that moment when the Prodigal comes to himself, and realizes what a mess he has made. There really is a grace in the pain and in the shame. This was the grace the older brother could not find because he was so busy pretending to be so good.
But, of course, nobody is good.
After the affliction we can find liberty in law, grace in governance, freedom in obedience. We understand that there is wisdom in not being able to eat from all of the fruit in the garden.
The wisest people I know are those who've learned all these lessons the hard way. They are the ones who will read, "Thou shall not . . ." and receive it as Gospel and not just Law.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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