Be Diligent…

If I were to ask “What’s the saddest verse in the Bible?”, I’d no doubt get many different responses. For some of you, John 11:35 would come to mind (“Jesus wept.”). Others no doubt would recall “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). I’m sure some would remember the dialog between Nathan and king David, when Nathan convicts the errant king of his sin, saying “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:1-14).

My experience is that I find many verses in the Bible to be sad Scriptures, and the one that’s “the saddest” is simply the sad one that’s on my mind most recently. Such is the case with the sad Scripture for today:

“And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.” Judges 3:12

This is sad on its face, simply realizing that after all God had done for Israel, they turned against Him. But this is magnified by the fact that this thought appears no less than 7 times in the book of Judges alone! (See also Judges 2:11, Judges 3:7, Judges 4:1, Judges 6:1, Judges 10:6, and Judges 13:1.) Add that to all the times they turned away from God during the exodus from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan, then God bailed them out when they repented and turned back to Him.

What a bunch of sniveling, spineless losers, right? Not so fast, “Romans 7-breath”.

Haven’t you ever felt the feelings Paul describes in Romans 7? (See vs. 7-25). Things are going swimmingly, I’m feeling great, I’m thinking I’ve got the devil whipped, then BAM! Back in the pig pen of sin. That’s just satan’s way of showing me he’s in control, right? Wrong! God is in control, and he’ll remain in control of my life as long as I let Him. There’s the rub — never do I consciously say “God, I know what’s better for my life than you do, so I’m going to do this anyway”, but by my actions that’s exactly the effect.

Wow.

Just like the Israelites.

“And [insert your name] again did evil in the sight of the LORD.”

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Romans 7:24

That’s hitting bottom, and if you can approach the Lord in prayer with that attitude every day, He will deliver you and you will feel the relief that Paul followed up that thought with in the next verse:

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:25

We can be truly thankful that we don’t have to depend on our own righteousness or our own goodness in order to be acceptable to God. He accepts the repentant follower of Christ just as he is — a blood-bought sinner clothed with His Son (Galatians 3:26-27).

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Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: "In" not "of", Bible study, Christian life, Devotion, Growth, Humility, Old Testament, Salvation