I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life. —Psalm 119:93.
Much like the rules parents have for young children—don’t drink what’s under the cabinet, don’t play in the street, don’t walk out from behind parked cars—God’s guidance is not to restrict us but to protect us. His commands, his principles, his precepts, both the positive and prohibitive ones, are for our protection and perfection. By them we find life and have it preserved.
The Old Testament Law had all sorts of cleanliness laws that did not make any sense at all until thousands of years later, when modern science taught us about bacteria and viruses. All through these years, the Israelites were preserved by God’s commands when they had no real understanding of why God had given the laws in the first place. God’s precepts bring us protection and natural rewards that go with living a wholesome and wise life (Deuteronomy 6:1-3; Psalm 19:7-8, 11).