The Clutches of Sin
Lord, the talons dig deep. I’ve talked with You about my sins on numerous occasions, but some sins have dug in deep and I feel powerless against them. I know and trust You to deliver me from them and You tell us in Your word that You offer a way of escape in 1 Cor 10:13. So often I’ll look at the two paths and refuse the escape and that’s where my problem lies. Why do I choose sin, even though it feels completely outside of me and I hunger for Your word to draw closer to You, I still give in. I suppose one way to look at it is what sin is your favorite? That’s the one that rips the spirit from the flesh to consume and poison. And I hear You. “Why give in?” I honestly don’t have an answer. It seems so simple on paper and the desire to put off the flesh and surrender to Your will is strong, but why am I so weak? Romans 7:14-24 really does ring true to the heart of the matter where my spirit longs to do good but the flesh desires sin. The Holy Spirit speaks with logical and emotional sense, “Read My word and keep My commandments.” I often think when we as people talk about Your will and what that means in our life that we try to modify what that means to fit the narrative around our lives instead of that being the narrative OF our lives. Out of every belief system in the world, not only is faith in You reasonable and easily accessible, but it has such deep simplicity. “For all who call upon the name of the Lord WILL be saved.” -Romans 10:13. In Matthew you tell us to ask and it will be given to us. Obviously You’re not a vending machine where we push B2 and expect whatever blessing we ask for, but You do hold to Your commitments towards us. When we ask forgiveness, you give it freely and cast it the distance from the east to the west. Psalm 103 certainly brings comfort to us who struggle so much with our transgressions. Your forgiveness and mercy should never be taken for granted, after all sin still has its price regardless of whether we've been redeemed or not. The hymn “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy” is hauntingly comforting especially when it says
Come, ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty glorify
True belief and true repentance
Every grace that brings you nigh
Come, ye weary, heavy-laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry 'til you're better
You will never come at all
How often I overlook my sin and dismiss it as a battle lost where I gave a foothold for the enemy and lost ground. It’s not. You are not the Great Physician because of a simple loss of will, You Are because of our need to be healed from chronic sickness and disease. Sin is a plague, an infection and affliction that permeates our cells, invades the mind and heart, distorts the soul and warps morality to continually feed itself like a parasite. We are never better until we come to You. Never healed, never inoculated or immunized. But thanks be to God, praise and glory are Yours and Yours alone! Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.” By Your stripes, Lord. Sins talons continue to rip and tear, but You have already won the battles before us and You have healed me completely. I will work to resist, with the unfortunate knowledge to know that’s all I can do, but You offer escape and shelter, an ambulance and a clinic, healing and restoration. Lord, I ask you to pursue my heart and mind to turn away from those struggles and take away my focus on You. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I committed, unto Him against that day.” Thank You, Lord, Amen.