Pool Rules

January 19th, 2026
by David Robinson

I used to have a pool when I lived in Tennessee. There are many wonderful things to do in this world, and one of those things is sitting by a pool on a warm day, in privacy, reading a book or listening to music, and taking a dip whenever the desire rises.

The family pool had a purpose. It was for recreation and enjoyment. It was intended to bring joy and rest and pleasure. But there were rules. No diving in the shallow end. No running by the pool. No overly rough play. No peeing in the pool. I am sure there were more, but you get the point.

The younger the swimmer, the more tedious and annoying the rules were:

“Why can’t I run? I will be careful!”

“We weren’t playing too rough!”

“I don’t wanna have to get out and go inside to pee! There’s plenty of water to dilute it.”

These are the words and thoughts of those who have never seen someone harmed by reckless behavior. For those with experience the rules make sense. They are made to maximize the joy of the pool and minimize the potential for pain.

1 Timothy 1:8 (New King James Version)
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,

You were made for a plan and a purpose. And the law of God was made to maximize joy and minimize pain for you and for your neighbor.

While the pool rules may be simple, and it may take relatively little experience to understand their value, the law of the Lord is much more complicated. To follow it requires trust in the Lord. We cannot always see the harm in our path that the law is protecting us from. We cannot always see the pain our sin may cause our neighbor.

The pool rules protect us from harm (no running, no diving in the shallow end). The pool rules also protect others, our neighbors, from harm (no overly rough play, no peeing in the pool). The law of God is the same.

God’s law also has another and arguably more important feature. It helps us to know God. The law flows from God. It is a revelation of who He is. If you want to know your Father, listen to what He tells you. The law flows from His nature and character. Justice and mercy mingled in perfection.

Psalm 1:2 (New King James Version)
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 19:7 (New King James Version)
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

Psalm 94:12 (New King James Version)
Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, And teach out of Your law,

The more you transform by the power of the Holy Spirit, the more you trust the law, whether or not you fully understand all the joys to be maximized or harms avoided. You begin to trust the Lawgiver, and therefore, you begin to trust His laws.

We are caught up in a culture war, quarrelling over sexuality and the “right to choose” and gender identities and more. The law of God speaks plainly and justly in these areas and God speaks for our good! It is for the maximizing of joy and the minimizing of pain for you and your neighbor that He speaks. His Word is true and faithful!

You hear these arguments all the time. Each of them is an argument not with you, but with God.

The first attack on God’s law sounded like this:

Genesis 3:1-6 (New King James Version)
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

“The woman saw that the tree was good…” It is when we replace our broken sinful view for God’s perfect Word that we fall into sin and death. God said it; and that’s the end of it. We do not get to replace God’s perfection for our twisted worldly “wisdom.” How many times have I done this, God forgive me. The road behind me is littered with the pain I have experienced and the pain I’ve caused, because I have substituted my broken view of “good” for God’s perfect goodness. Praise God that He has paid for my pardon! Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15 NKJV)

“God said it, and that’s the end of it.”

You may be just certain that you can run by the pool without falling on the concrete. You may be sure that no one will really get hurt when you play too rough. But you cannot be certain, and even if no one got hurt this time, you have violated the pool rules and therefore dishonored the owner of the house.

We all live in God’s house, His universe, His reality. Every breath is from Him and “every good gift!” (James 1:17 NKJV)

Nobody may know that you cheated on your taxes or looked at that image on your screen. But God knows and God cares and God has made His law for your benefit. You cannot know better than He and I promise you do not know better.

You can act like a child at the pool, diving in the shallow end when no one is looking and peeing while pretending you aren’t. But if you do, you are a child, and you will find out the hard way that your joy will be decreased and your pain increased.

Follow the law with a heart that desires to love God more! That is the path to joy. Walk in it. Walk in Him.