Walking in Wide Spaces

I stumbled over this beautiful, yet counter-cultural truth in Psalms 119 this morning:

Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth,

for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law,

for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom,

for I have sought out your precepts.

I noticed the word used for “freedom” is a phrase in the Hebrew– it literally reads something like “I will walk in a wide place”. This statement captured my heart and my attention as I thought about it. The writer is declaring that he has hoped in God’s laws, he has striven to obey God and will continue to do so for ever. And the result of having sought out God’s precepts and striven for obedience? Freedom. And I wonder, freedom from what? Perhaps there’s a freedom from the pressures of sin. Pride brings pressure as we struggle to maintain an image that over-represents us. Financial pressures narrow our existence as we’ve had eyes bigger than our pocketbooks. Relational pressures weigh us down when we do life our way instead of God’s.

In God, under his laws, his precepts, his direction is found a wide place to roam.

Freedom.