We need to be the Loving Seekers of God and not the Letter-Keepers of the Law!

The law of God is perfect, spiritual, and wonderful; it shows us who God is, and it gives us a description and a picture of what and who our God is. The law was given by God in His fellowship with Moses and it was never intended to be a set of rules which His people should outwardly strive to keep; the law was intended to be fulfilled in God’s people as they would seek God, love God, and are infused with God so that God in them would fulfill the law.

If we read the Bible, however, we see two different kinds of people that dealt with the law: the loving seekers of God (see Matt. 22:36-38) and the letter-keepers of the law (among whom were the Judaizers).

Even though they did not receive Christ as their life inwardly, the Psalmists really loved God and treasured His law, precepts, commandments, and statutes; the Psalms are filled with their love for God and for His word. In the New Testament we can also see Simeon and Anna who also loved God’s word, treasured it, dwelt in God’s temple, were infused by God, and eventually saw the Lord Jesus – the fulfillment of the law.

On the other hand, throughout the Bible we can see the letter-keepers of the law who strived to keep the law and condemned all others who didn’t. Before he was converted, Paul was a letter-keeper of the law: he was killed by the law and he himself would go around to put in prison and even kill those who didn’t keep the law.

If we are letter-keepers of the law, we are under condemnation and are in death; we will then spread death and condemn others according to the law. But if we love the Lord, are His loving seekers, and desire to be infused with Him through His word, we will love God, love man, and dispense life to others.

Oh, may the Lord shine on us and expose us of how much WE OURSELVES are letter-keepers of the law: we both strive to keep the law and impose the law on others in the church life! May the Lord release us from the bondage of the law and bring us into the enjoyment of Himself as we give ourselves to Him to love Him, enjoy Him, and feed on Him!

The Loving Seekers of God Love the Law as God’s Testimony and as His Living Word

The psalmists were loving seekers of God; they loved God, sought after God, desired to know God, yearned for God, and loved to be in God’s house. Therefore, they also loved the law as the testimony of God and as His living word.

They were not letter-keepers of the law; they were not condemned by the law of God but rather, they loved it, desired it, were enlightened by it, tasted its sweetness, treasured it, were supplied by it, and were infused with the riches of God as they enjoyed Him in His word.

Wow, what a pattern we see in the Psalmists in the Old Testament! Here are at least ten ways the psalmists loved God and His word:

1. They loved God.

Psa. 18:1 I love You, O Jehovah, my strength.
Psa. 73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but You? And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth.
Psa. 116:1 I love Jehovah because He hears My voice, my supplications.

2. They sought God

Psa. 42:1-2 As the hart pants After the streams of water, So my soul pants For You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, For the living God. When will I come and appear Before God?
Psa. 43:4 And I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.
Psa. 119:2, 10 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart… With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wonder from Your commandments.

3. They dwelt with God

Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; That do I seek: To dwell in the house of Jehovah All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in His temple.
Psa. 84:1-7 1. How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts! 2. My soul longs, indeed even faints, For the courts of Jehovah; My heart and my flesh cry out To the living God. 3. At Your two altars even the sparrow has found a home; And the swallow, a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God. 4. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will yet be praising You. 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6. Passing through the valley of Baca, They make it a spring; Indeed the early rain covers it with blessings. 7. They go from strength to strength; Each appears before God in Zion.
Psa. 90:1 O Lord, You have been our dwelling place In all generations.
Psa. 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

4. They beheld God’s beauty

Psa. 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; That do I seek: To dwell in the house of Jehovah All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in His temple.

5. They were infused with the riches of God

Psa. 52:8 But I, like a flourishing olive tree In the house of God, Trust in God’s lovingkindness Forever and ever.
Psa. 92:13-14, 10 Planted in the house of Jehovah, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bring forth fruit in old age; They will be full of sap and green…But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil.

6. They enjoyed the riches of life

Psa. 36:8-9 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

7. They were supplied with God to keep His word

Psa. 119:57 Jehovah is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.

8. They treasured the law of God

Psa. 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies As much as in all riches.
v. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
v. 127 Therefore I love Your commandments More than gold, indeed, more than fine gold.

9. They tasted the sweetness of the law

Psa. 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

10. They hoped in the word of God and mused upon it

Psa. 119:147-148 I anticipated the dawn and cried out; I hoped in Your words. My eyes anticipated the night watches, That I might muse upon Your word.

The psalmists loved God to the extent that they treasured no one and nothing more than God in heaven or on earth. They sought after God as a hart pants for the water. They longed to dwell in God’s house all their life, considering the secret place of the Almighty to be their home.

They aspired to dwell in the secret place of God’s presence. They enjoyed the riches of life by being open to the Lord to be infused with His element. They sought after God and were infused with Him. The law of God was to them so sweet and pleasant that they even ate it – and lived because of it.

Simeon and Anna also lovingly sought God, and they wanted to see the Salvation of Israel – the Christ; the Holy Spirit was on them, they received a revelation of the Holy Spirit and walked by the Spirit (Luke 2:25-27).

They lived in the temple, serving God with fasting and praying, and enjoyed God to be infused with God (Luke 2:37); therefore, their living corresponded to God’s expression, and their reward was to see the Christ of God. Oh, may we be those who love the Lord and pursue to enjoy Him in His word!

Lord Jesus, we love You! We seek You in love and desire to dwell with You and be found in Your house, the church. Lord, we want to behold Your beauty and be infused with all Your riches. Feed us with Yourself, give us the fatness of Your house, and satisfy us with Your fresh speaking day by day. Lord, we want to keep Your word by loving You, treasuring Your word, enjoying the sweetness of Your word, and hoping in Your word as we muse on it and prayerfully consider it. How we love You, Lord Jesus, and how we treasure Your word!

God’s Loving Seekers Enjoy God but the Letter-Keepers of the Law Kill and Persecute

Before he was saved, Paul (then Saul) was a letter-keeper of the law: he was a Jew of Jews, trained at the feet of Gamaliel, versed and knowledgeable in the law, keeping the law to the letter as a Pharisee, and zealous for the law (Phil. 3:5-6).

Because he kept the law outwardly by his own effort, Saul was killed by the law and he himself sought to persecute and even kill those who were Jews and yet didn’t keep the law; he was a blasphemer of God and a persecutor of man (1 Tim. 1:13).

Later when the church life was spreading, there were some Judaizers who were enforcing the law of Moses on the believers, causing much pain to the seeking ones who just loved God.

God’s loving seekers enjoy God in His word but the portion of the letter-keepers of the law is condemnation and death. When the law was in the hands of the psalmists, they loved it and loved God, but when it was in the hand of the Judaizers, they used it to kill others. The Judaizers didn’t have a heart for God (Matt. 15:8) but they were legal and dogmatic in the letters of the law (Gal. 6:12-13).

The same law who is spiritual, divine, holy, and wonderful, is something positive and lovable to those who love God and seek Him, and at the same time it is something negative for and in the hands of those who seek to keep it in their own efforts.

When Paul was converted to Christ, he repudiated the law, put it aside, and considered all his accomplishments according to the law to be dung, rubbish, refuse, so that he may gain Christ. From a letter-keeper of the law Paul was made a loving seeker of God. We need to be converted from being a letter-keeper of the law to being a loving seeker of God!

May we be those who lovingly seek God, desire to know Him, pursue Him, enjoy Him, and eat Him in His word so that we may be His loving seekers! May we not be those who strive to keep the law and thus be condemned and killed, and then persecute and kill others!

In the church life we need to just enjoy God, pursue God, seek God, and be filled with God especially as we come to His word individually or corporately; we should not enforce any law or regulation but help others be the Lord’s loving seekers!

Lord Jesus, make us Your loving seekers who enjoy You in Your word. Save us from trying to keep the law by our own efforts. Lord, we come to You to enjoy You, pursue after You, seek to gain You, and receive life from You even as we come to Your word. Dear Lord Jesus, how we love You and how we love Your word! Convert us from being a letter-keeper of the law who is under God’s condemnation and partakes of death, into being a loving seeker of God who enjoys God and partakes of the riches of life in God’s word!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msg. 64 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 1 / msg 1, The Law – the Testimony of God Revealing him to His People and the Living Word of God to Infuse His Substance into His Loving Seekers.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # How lovely is Thy dwelling-place! / Within Thy courts I long to be; / Thy presence, Lord, my spirit craves, / For this my heart cries out to Thee. (Hymns #851)
  # As pants the hart for cooling streams / When heated in the chase, / So longs my soul, O God, for Thee, / And Thy refreshing grace. (Hymns #349)
  # One thing have I desired of the Lord, / That will I seek; / That I may dwell in the house of the Lord / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of the Lord, / And to inquire in His temple. (Song on beholding God)