For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us … (Isaiah 33:22)

Combining epithets we have written about elsewhere, we focus on the Lord as “our lawgiver.” The people of Israel found great delight in the Law of God. They saw Yahweh (to distinguish Him from all false notions of God in currency at the time) as the originator of order in the universe. To be sure, He is the Creator who made everything that exists, and without His involvement nothing has come into existence or continually exists (see Gen 1, John 1:1-3). He has ordered what scientists call the laws of nature. This is simply their way of referring to those fixed operating principles that can be observed in the natural world. These laws include such recognizable forces or principles as gravity, the speed of light, thermodynamics, magnetism, and so on. Try as we might to overcome these things, they are fixed and form the foundation for scientific inquiry and invention. In other words, we can count on them being true, and we build our physical world around their reality. These are God’s physical laws of nature.

The Lord also has moral laws of the universe, expected standards of behavior. That He would require these should be no surprise, when we understand that God has made us all in His image (Gen 1:26). Being the Lawgiver simply means He expects His image bearers (that’s you and me) to be like Him, to live out the reality of who we are. When Jesus held the Roman coin in His hand and asked whose likeness was on it, the answer was given, “Caesar’s.” He went on to say, give Caesar that which has his image on it—but also give to God that which has God’s image on it. We, being created in God’s image, owe our life and behavior to Him. The Law outlines how we are to do that.

For the Jews, the primary audience of Isaiah’s writing, that meant the Mosaic Law with all its ritual and behavioral requirements. David saw the Law as his delight and wanted to learn more about it and about God, the Lawgiver:

Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. … Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. (Ps 119:11-18).

Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate on Your wonders. (Ps 119:27).

Though the Law cannot save us, it reflects God’s wonderful moral order, inner unity and consistency of character. That is what He wants for us.

Lord, help me understand, like David, how wonderful You are as my Lawgiver.