The Goodness & Freedom of God's Boundaries

I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. Psalm 119:45

When my family moved into our current home, we spent a good bit of money putting a fence around the back yard.  We did it for one reason: we loved our dog.  Without that fence, our dog would never have been able to enjoy that yard, running as she loved to do.  We would only have been able to take her back there on a leash since her instincts would have led her into any number of very dangerous situations (running into traffic, getting into a fight with another dog, running off and not coming back, etc).  A fence meant freedom for her to run and enjoy herself.

God has written all kinds of such fences into the human experience.  One might consider marriage one of those fences.  Yet, marriage itself has many fences: monogomy, gender roles, heterosexuality, and lifelong union.  These fences and others are for our good, that we might enjoy God’s good gifts and be protected from harm.   

So, what would move a person to reject God’s boundaries?  Only a complete misunderstanding of the interplay among one’s desires, God’s boundaries, and freedom.  The typical person is quick to assume the goodness of his own desires, to be suspicious of any boundary, and to equate freedom with unfettered access to what he wants.  Of course, the Bible indicates these are all problematic.

Psalm 119 offers a right perspective on freedom, man’s desires, and God’s boundaries.  In verse 45, the psalmist begins by declaring, “and I shall walk in a wide place.”  Another way to render this would be, “I will walk to and fro in the broad place.”  In other words, he declares his intent to enjoy great freedom.  It’s a picture of roaming freely in a great, wide-open space.  

If freedom were to be equated with the absence of boundaries or with unrestricted access to one’s desires, we might expect the second half of the verse to read something like, “…for I have thrown off the boundaries of God’s law…” or, “…for I will indulge my every desire.”  Rather, he writes, “I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.”  

The “for” is crucial.  It indicates that the psalmist will enjoy freedom precisely because of his seeking God’s instruction.  That this instruction is needful assumes that the psalmist's own desires are not a reliable guide to freedom.  In other words, God’s instructions—not man’s desires— create conditions conducive to great freedom.

Psalm 119:45 reflects several biblical principles that taken together should move us to embrace God’s boundaries just like the psalmist.  

The notion that God’s rules withhold good things is Satanic in origin.  The serpent was the first to claim that God laid down a law designed to keep man from enjoying a good desire (Gen 3:1-5).  To make the same claim is to think the devil’s thoughts after him.  

God’s first boundary was given for man’s good.  Everything that God made and entrusted to man was good (Gen 1:31), and His law was intended to prevent man from harm (Gen 2:16-17).  Man’s desire for “freedom” from this law led to his bondage to sin and death (Gen 3:17-24; Rom 5:12).  It is no exaggeration to say that every evil and misery ever suffered in the human experience arose from the first attempt to gain freedom from God’s law.

In the context of a fallen world, God’s law provides for maximum enjoyment of His good things and protection from sin and death.  Now that sin has entered the world through one man and death through sin, there are myriad ways that man can be harmed simply by indulging his own desires.  This is because his desires are fallen and self-destructive (Jas 1:14-15; 4:1).  Out of kindness, God gives direction through His Word in order to protect man from his base instincts and pursuits.  

God’s Word provides moral precepts, which if obeyed, will prevent a host of miseries.  The one who works hard and doesn’t steal, doesn’t lie, enjoys the sexual relationship within the bounds of biblical covenant marriage, worships God alone, and doesn’t desire what belongs to others will enjoy life in ways not available to the one who fails in all these areas.  

God’s law leads us to life in Christ.  Given our fallen hearts, the law of God exposes our inability to walk in accordance with these good directions (Rom 3:19-20).  It thereby shows us our need for a Savior.  Jesus, the Son of God, came to the earth and obeyed God’s law on our behalf.  Having proved Himself in this way, He was then offered on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we might be forgiven for our great sin (Rom 3:21-26).  Through His resurrection on the third day, He has the authority to give life to all who repent and trust in Him.  

Life in Christ leads us to God's good boundaries.  New life in Christ, far from giving us a freedom from obedience to God, is described in the NT as slavery to God (Rom 6:15-23).  Yet, the NT authors use this phrase with great affection.  Every NT epistle calls to obey God.  This is because walking in obedience to God is the life for which we were designed…it is truly good for us.  It warns us of those things harmful to us, calls us to those things good for us, and proclaims the great wideness of things God has created for us to enjoy (1 Cor 10:23-33; 1 Tim 4:3-4; 6:17).

The psalmist recognizes rightly and biblically that the more committed he is to walking within the boundaries of God the wider and fuller will be his freedom.  If we would similarly enjoy freedom, we should do several things.  First, we should assume the benevolence of God's boundaries as it pertains to our freedom.  He desires to lead us to good things and keep us from harmful things.  Second, where our desires conflict with God's boundaries, we should assume our desires need to change, not God's boundaries.  Third, we should commit to knowing and embracing God's Word as much as we possibly can!  Only then will we be able to say, "I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts."