Psalm 119:134

Psalm 119:134 “Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey Your precepts.”
 

The word “redeem” means to liberate by means of payment. The cry of David’s heart is to be set free from the oppression of the spirit of this world. The spirit of this world burdens us through peer pressure. Young people are not the only ones affected by peer pressure. I once read a note to young people that said, “Don’t laugh at the way your dad wears his hair; it’s the way all the people he works with wear theirs. Don’t laugh at the kind of car he drives; it’s just like his friends’ cars. Don’t mock Mom for wearing the dress she does, it’s what Hollywood is telling her to wear.” 

The answer to David’s prayer has come to us in the form of a Saviour. Jesus liberated us through paying a great price. He came to set us free. We no longer need to worry about the world’s “look” and “status” because we are now free of its pressure. This is what overcoming the world means. 

In visiting with a friend who had a fairly shady past, he said to me, “When I was first saved, I was amazed at the freedom I had, to not do what I used to do. The pressure I always felt, to be like everybody else was gone. I was redeemed.” 

Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” [oppression] Galatians 5:1. Today it seems the Church has gone full circle concerning freedom. Today the cry is, “We are free to do what the world is doing.” Paul warned us of that. We are free to go back to the same “party spirit” we were saved from. To go back to that is to go back to the oppression of men. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature” Galatians 5:13. David wanted to be free so he could follow the precepts of God more closely.
 

Let me encourage you to take some time to meditate on this verse; as you do, ask yourself how you use your freedom in Christ.   Continued