Psalms 119:106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
Can you remember the day you received the Lord? Can you remember the zealousness of your heart committing to wholesome living? Can you remember working and trying so hard to keep that commitment to consecration? What happened?
We humans know our own weaknesses. We know that whereas we should live by virtue, we often just respond to instinct. Could this be the reason why this powerful king bound himself by an oath, swore himself to perform the commandment of the Lord? Having in the past fallen (2 Samuel 11), he was aware of his own frailties. So he bound himself by his own word, in order to add weight on his commitment to perform God’s righteous Laws.
Jesus advised us not to swear (Matthew 5:34-37). But the bonds of our love and thankfulness for Him should provoke a pressure to obedience in an even more powerful, internal, and even instinctive way. These bonds of love should be stronger than the mere commitment coming from words uttered in front of witnesses under the fear of the Law.
When we receive Jesus as our personal Savior, we owe our lives to the One who has braved the fiercest hell has to offer, made the ultimate sacrifice, to save us from certain doom. Because of His sacrifice, we never have to feel even the slightest chill from the corridors of death. In all integrity, from that point on, the true spirit of gratitude owes itself to the Savior who saved us from certain death, and this debt is stronger than a sworn oath.
May we always remember the inherent promise we made, to the One who gave His life so we could have one; to the One who received death so we would get none. To the One who forsook the comfort of His own home in Heaven to roam the dusty roads of Palestine, and die as a common criminal. To the Lamb of God of God, who takes away on His cross the sin of the world, even ours, so that someday, we receive a heavenly mansion with Him, in His country, even New Jerusalem. (John 14:2; Revelations:21 and 22).
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
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