Psalm 119:119 Prime Directive

Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever

Any true fan of Star Trek will recognize the clip above from City on the Edge of Forever, a classic time travel episode from the original Star Trek series. Dr. McCoy has accidentally been sent back to mid-20th Century Earth, losing his memory in the process. Eventually, he saves a woman from being killed by an oncoming vehicle. That interruption in what "should have happened" triggers a ripple effect through history that causes major changes in the future.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock follow him back in time and manage to keep McCoy from saving her life, thus restoring the original timeline.

They do so, in spite of the fact that Kirk has fallen in love with the woman (Kirk falls in love in about every third episode of the original series). They put history back as it should have been because of the Prime Directive.

The Prime Directive, also known as Starfleet General Order 1 or the Non-Interference Directive, was the embodiment of one of Starfleet's most important ethical principles: noninterference with other cultures and civilizations. At its core was the philosophical concept that covered personnel should refrain from interfering in the natural, unassisted, development of societies, even if such interference was well-intentioned. The Prime Directive was viewed as so fundamental to Starfleet that officers swore to uphold the Prime Directive, even at the cost of their own life or the lives of their crew. (Memory-Alpha)

The plot line of many Star Trek episodes and movies has revolved around various complications with the Prime Directive, usually resulting in the main characters bending or breaking the directive. In this case, Kirk was following the Temporal Prime Directive, avoiding interference with a culture or civilization in the past.

All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;
therefore I love your statutes.

Psalm 119:119

Is there a Prime Directive for the people of God?

As nearly every preacher has quoted at some point, "anytime you see the word therefore in scripture, you need to ask what it's there for."

In this case, the reason for the therefore isn't entirely clear. It's tempting to just ignore it.

But I think it's intended to emphasize the contrast between the two halves of the verse and draw a direct line of motivation.

The first half expresses in dramatic fashion the extreme character of God's wrath toward the wicked. The idea that He discards them like the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal, will make some readers uncomfortable. Which, I suppose is the point. We need to be reminded of the severity of God's wrath occasionally.

Once we get beyond being horrified by God's wrath, David says, the person after God's own heart will be motivated by it. Motivated toward loving God's ways with the same level of intensity as God despises wickedness.

It's the sort of love that doesn't pick and choose which statutes to love. It doesn't gloss over some, twist others, and ignore a few of them outright.

If you love God, you love all His statutes. Which is hard to do on a steady and unwavering basis.

Unless you focus on God's prime directive. Or prime directives.

You can take your pick among various expressions of our prime directive. Is it to "seek and save the lost"? To "Go into all the world and preach the gospel..."?

Those are good, but I like this expression of Jesus' Prime Directive, from Matthew 22:37-40:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Focusing on those two commands will make it much easier to love and follow all of God's statutes. Doing it the other way around, focusing on the many statutes, has historically led to all kinds of wickedness perpetrated in the name of God. If I cling tightly to the laws and fiercely enforce them, but have not love, I have become nothing but dross, unproductive and unwanted.