Category: Devotionals

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. I John 4:7, 12

The topic of relationships is still on my mind because of the time I’ve spent studying I John 4. There is so much rich, deep, and timeless theology in this chapter that one brief devotional couldn’t possibly do it justice. I encourage you to take a look at I John 4 on your own beyond what I say in this devotional. Sit in it. Think about what you read, and then pray over the emotions it makes you feel.

John wants us to wrestle a bit, I believe, because he wants us to fully trust God’s authentic, faithful, and constant love. It is the energy on which our lives and relationships thrive.

A theologian by the name of C.H. Dodd has commented that love is triangular. It flows from God to us, through us to others, and then returns to God. This aligns with the point John is making when he says that if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Earlier, in verse 8, he gives us a reliable test to use on our hearts. Anyone who doesn’t love doesn’t know God. This relates directly to the statement he makes about abiding in God in verse 12.

If we say we love God, then our lives will hold love like a pool holds water. This love will then naturally spill out onto others. If we say we love people, then our relationships will act as a window into our attitudes toward God. John is saying that one doesn’t exist without the other. If we love God, we’ll share his love with others. And if we love others, we do it out of the reservoir our relationship with God has created within us.

These are two sides to the triangle. The third one is about returning love to God. When we live in Christian community giving, serving, and showing compassion, then love is returned to God. This may be what John means when he says that God’s love is made complete in us. He extends love to us. We give it to others. Together we give it back to God.

It’s the shape of perfect love.

Loving in community has an additional aspect. When we love, God is seen. He is invisible until his family of sons and daughters love each other. When we let his love flow through us, and we serve one another in sacrificial ways, God is seen. This is where he lives. This is how the outside world recognizes him. His presence moves and dances in the actions of a loving Christian community.

How do we grow this capacity to love in our hearts? John suggests that we must stay connected to God. Find ways to consistently listen to his word, to study it, or to read it for yourself.

Be born of God by accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them and they in God (verse 15).

Practice loving others. We won’t get it right every time. People will find ways, sometimes unintentional ones, to insult us or offend us. But we must forgive and keep moving forward. Our goal is to make God visible and to continue expressing our love to him.

This verse from the hymn, “The Love of God” gives me such great comfort to know how endless and yet how strong is God’s love.

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the sky of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade.

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.

The love of God, how rich and pure

How measureless and strong.

It shall forevermore endure

The saints and angels’ song.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

This last phrase of verse 12 was on the cover of the program my husband and I used for our wedding service. The message implied by the author of Ecclesiastes is that one person cannot tackle the challenges of life alone. We need a support, a team that journeys with us, working alongside us, assisting us as we accomplish the work God created in advance for us to do.

The author of Ecclesiastes intended the metaphor in verses 9 to 12 as instruction for a healthy and successful life. He starts out stating the benefit of a partnership compared to loneliness. The two people in the relationship work together, while also providing safety and comfort for one another. If one falls, the other will lift him up. If two are out in the elements, exposed and in danger of freezing, they can share the heat between the two of them. But one lonely person, exposed to the danger alone, has no way of generating enough warmth on their own to survive.

The same is true when facing enemies. Verse 10 tells us that one person standing by themselves has a greater chance of defeat, but two people teamed up and unified can withstand hostile forces.

We need companionship. Vital to our lives are the people who stay by our sides, committed and faithful as our friends, our family members, or our spouse.

These people believe in us. They cheer us on and help us place confidence in ourselves when we feel tired, defeated, and ready to give up. They love us for who we are, in our best moments and in our worst. Companionship, security, and comfort are the defining features of these healthy relationships.

As we practice loving in this way, God himself is seen among us. He moves and dances in our actions so that we mirror him to each other.

The author of Ecclesiastes saves the best for last. Building from the loneliness of a single person to the mutual support of two people, he ends with a statement of three. The picture of a cord woven with three strands points to a deeper reality behind the companionship. Who is this third strand? It is God himself. He lifts both partners up. He is their comfort and security. His commitment to both of them under girds their faithfulness to one another.

A cord of three strands is not easily broken. God-honoring relationships are durable. They stand through peril and uncertainty. Why? Not because the people involved in these relationships are so powerful and wise, but because God is strong. And he is love. His holy love is the strongest force in the world. Absolutely nothing can overcome it.

When we live in this love, we have much to give. It strengthens us from the inside out. In our professional relationships, with our families, or in our marriages, we can offer companionship as we dispense comfort and security to everyone around us. God’s faithfulness and his love are behind it, and when we offer him to others, he becomes visible as the strongest strand holding all the others together.

Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. Hebrews 10:35-37

What do you think of when you hear the word “perseverance?” For me, it’s that poor little train in the children’s story, The Little Engine That Could. Whenever a grade-school teacher read that story to me, I felt so sorry for that little train. “I think I can … I think I can …” she would puff as she climbed steep hills. She seemed to me to be taking such huge risks against insurmountable obstacles.

“Would someone just help her already?” I wanted to scream at my teachers. “Please, make her journey easier, or at least tell her to drive her train on flat ground. Who said she had to go up and down mountains anyway?”

Sadly, you can see I had little patience with this book as a child.

But it really does make a great point, and it’s similar to the one in Hebrews 10. Verse 35 tells us not to throw away our confidence. We have to keep trying, keep standing, keep searching, and keep believing. The truth is, we are in a battle. The things that matter most don’t come easy, and they take a long time to develop. Whether it’s character, relationships, or faith, we must prepare to stay in for the long haul.

God knows all about the challenges and setbacks. He sees everything and he understands.

We don’t struggle for nothing. Verse 35 goes on to tell us that our confidence will be richly rewarded. If we persist in living out God’s will for our lives, we will receive what God has promised.

The concept of a reward implies payment, like a worker who draws a wage. Jesus promised rewards to his disciples for doing his work of evangelism on earth.

What is the reward God has in mind for those who persevere? Is Hebrews talking about financial gain?

The promises God has made far exceed material possessions or financial security. The reward of God is our salvation, purchased for us through the blood of Jesus Christ. Rewards also come as blessings that are showered on us at any time and in any way God chooses.

These are wonderful and entirely true, but when we face a hardship or are mired in struggle, it’s not always so helpful to comfort ourselves with the broad theological concepts that encompass our entire lives. We need help now. We want that word that will tell us yes, we will make it up that mountain. We are desperate to know God is present and aware, and that he won’t leave us.

This is perhaps what these verses from Hebrews 10 is pointing to. God rewards us with more of himself. We can take it in at any time on any day. In those moments when we feel like we only move forward by inches, even the slightest progress offers more of God’s presence to us. This is because as we persevere farther and farther through our challenges, God is moving deeper and deeper into us.

It works both ways. As we are conquering territory on the outside, God is claiming more and more territory in our hearts on the inside.

So what is the goal, really? Do we want to push through the problems for the sake of eliminating them and striving for that elusive easy life?

Or, are we pressing on in pursuit of God? Trouble will make us do that. And the secret is, if we’re willing to let God shape us and change us as we persevere, the troubles aren’t really troubles anymore. They become opportunities. Opportunity for sanctification and holiness, change and increasing strength.

In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.

God is here. He’s working in you, working in your circumstances by helping you endure and rise above.

Do you feel as if you are wielding your sword alone, at night where no one sees you through the darkness?

God sees. He is on his way to bring you his perfect assistance at just the right time. Your help is on the way.

What the psalmist says about the city in Psalm 46 can also be said about us:

God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:5

Be of good cheer. In this world we will have trouble, but Christ has overcome the world.

And he will help us overcome too. This is why we must persevere.   

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:5-6

Thirty-eight years. Every time I read this passage from the Bible, I am amazed all over again. This man laid by the Pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. Day in, day out, he waited for the waters to stir, tried his hardest to get into the pool, and drowned in disappointment. He did this over and over for thirty-eight years.

It would have had to start to wear on him. Can’t you just imagine the levels of discouragement he lived with? He could do nothing for himself. His one chance at wellness depended on perfect timing, but he didn’t have the power to orchestrate a plan for himself. So, he lost out over and over again.

He probably had nieces and nephews younger than the lifetime he’d spent at the pool. They were growing and changing, going to school, learning trades, or getting married while he just laid there. Waiting, trying, and failing.

But then Jesus showed up. If you happen to read this passage in a Bible where the words Jesus spoke are typed in red, then it’s easy to see exactly how much Jesus actually said to this man. Fourteen words. That’s all. After thirty-eight years, fourteen words changed his life.

The power he’d been waiting for finally came. It arrived from a source outside of himself. There was nothing he could have done to call it into being, and there was nothing he could have done to weaken it. God is God. In Christ, he is grace, he is healing, and he is the most supreme eternal power. And in a flash, he wiped out years and years of frustrations, of limitations, and of disappointments.

Do you have a prayer you’ve been praying for a long time? Have you been lying around your own Pool of Bethesda, waiting for the waters to stir, and watching for the gracious power you need?

If so, then I’d like to encourage you by saying that it will come. We seldom know how God will choose to work in our lives, but we can rest confidently in the truth that he will. Keep telling him about your heart’s desire. Don’t give up listening to him and watching for him.

God’s timing is always just right. Our job is to grow more patient, to deepen our character with the willingness to sit still, and to cultivate an ease in our attitudes that welcomes whatever the Lord sends in his own good time.

In Psalms 62:1 (ESV) it is written, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” That one unanswered prayer that has been such a long time coming is a matter that requires God’s attention alone. He wants to be the one to provide for us, and he wants to do it in his time and in his way, supplying riches for us straight from his storehouse of heavenly treasure.

Keep waiting and keep praying because one day Jesus will suddenly walk onto the scene. In a matter of a few well-chosen words, he will turn the situation upside down.

“I have no one to help me,” the man said to Jesus.

Instead of meeting the one need to cover the short distance to the pool, Jesus erased all limitations by giving him a new life. The man now had the mobility to go wherever he wanted.

Our prayers matter. God listens and he rewards the faith you place in him.

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. Nehemiah 9:5, 6.

These verses are the opening lines of a public confession the Israelites made together. Nehemiah left his job as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes so that he could return to his hometown of Jerusalem. After he was appointed governor, the walls were rebuilt. Then the day arrived when Ezra the Priest stood before the citizens and read the Law.

This was the moment these people had been waiting for. Their ancestors had spent generations in exile. Now this group was allowed to return home. Home to their beloved Jerusalem, the center of their religious life and cultural identity as the nation chosen by God.

As Ezra read from the Book of the Law, the precious words carried a deep conviction. Their nation had sinned. The crimes their ancestors had committed against God had led to the loss of their homeland. They didn’t want that to happen again, so they stood together and made a new agreement.

That agreement began with this decree: “All these (the priests, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants, and all who separated themselves from the neighboring people for the sake of the Law of God) join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God to obey carefully all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our Lord” (Nehemiah 10:28-29).

This new agreement committed the Israelites to following God’s ways. They reached this point of decision after a thorough confession. That confession began with the verses from Nehemiah 9:5 and 6. In making this confession, the Israelites are repenting of sin. In addition to their repentance, they are acknowledging God’s sovereign work in the history of their nation.

If you go on to read Nehemiah chapter 9, you would find that the rest of the chapter is a recitation of God’s work among them. Here are some examples: In verse 7, they declare that God chose Abram and brought him out of Ur. God saw the suffering of their ancestors in Egypt (v 9), came down to Mount Sinai to speak to them from heaven (verse 13), and showed great compassion to them in the wilderness (verse 19).

This is God’s sovereign work. There was nothing the Israelites could do to change God’s plan for them as his people. He intended for his son Jesus, our Savior, to come from the Jewish ancestry, and that is exactly what happened. Rebellion, sin, and the abandonment of God’s statutes by the Israelites couldn’t destroy the destiny God had designed for them.

God also weaves his sovereign plans throughout our stories. Look back over your life and keep watch for those times when you felt rescued, blessed beyond what you deserve, or used to bring influence and meaning to a difficult situation. These are the intersections in our lives between our human experiences and God’s sovereign plans.

He intends for you to be chosen for a special work. He infuses your life and makes it shine with his glory for his honor. Nothing we can do will alter God’s plans for us. The apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 8:35 when he asks who shall separate us from the love of Christ. He lists all kinds of terrifying hardships but can’t find one that could separate us from God.

Jesus makes a similar statement when he addressed a group in the temple. “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30).

God’s power is given to Jesus, and we also have been designated by God as belonging to him. We can find great comfort in this. God intends only our good, and he is revealing his perfect plans for us a little at a time, one day at a time.

Is there a situation that is overwhelming you? Do you feel stuck, or like you are drowning, and you don’t know what to do next because the obstacles are too big and powerful?

Is there a sin you’ve committed and you wonder if you’ve messed up your life too much to get back what you had before?

Maybe you are feeling beyond God’s forgiveness and there’s no way home for you.

Remember the Israelites’ homecoming in Nehemiah 9. This was the moment in time when they caught a glimpse of God’s plan for them. Just because they didn’t know of it before doesn’t mean it hadn’t already existed for a long time. They just needed to see it, to understand it, and to embrace it.

As the confession in Nehemiah 9 reminds us, God alone is the Lord. He made the heavens. He made the earth and everything in it. He made the seas and all that is in them. He gives life to everything.

He gives life to you and to me. He’s chosen you, designed a plan for the life he’s given you, and works in that life for your good.

King David understood this, and it made him burst out in praise and in worship of God.

Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours (I Chronicles 29:10-11).

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Psalm 31:5 (NKJV)

This verse stands out to me because the psalmist seems to be giving up the one thing most dear to him—his own spirit. The confession comes from a place of anguish. This person knows that the fears, the emotions, and the hurts rumbling around in his spirit are too much for him to deal with on his own. He needs help from someone wiser and stronger in order to survive the trials he is experiencing.

The psalm’s tone is foreboding. The author is in trouble. He states this in verse 9: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.” Danger surrounds him and he is trying his best not to panic or cave in to despair.

But he knows of one place of safety, and that is the Lord’s care. He sees God as his rock of refuge (verse 2), a fortress (verse 2), his strength (verse 4), and his deliverer (verses 2 and 15). When the psalmist is overwhelmed with grief and feels his strength failing, he looks to the Lord and trusts in him for the deliverance he needs.

Only when God holds the psalmist’s spirit in his hands does the psalmist feel safe. God keeps him. Recovery and rest can be found there. The psalmist has full confidence in God’s ability to help him and to restore him. God has redeemed him, and God is honest, shielding him from deception while helping him stand with integrity.

The psalmist reveals to us a trustworthy way of caring for all we hold most dear. For him, his spirit is what needed God’s defense, but there are so many things we can lay in God’s hands.

If you feel weary or in danger, then follow the psalmist’s example and lay your spirit in God’s hands. But what about our relationships, our finances, politics, the future, or anything else you hold close to your heart? According to Psalm 31, we can commit any of these into God’s hands. He is our redeemer, and he will care for situations in ways that follow his truth.

This practice has become more important to me over time. Recently, several issues stacked up in my family life that required serious decisions to get made about them. My prayers became “Lord, into your hands I commit my son’s soccer season.”

“Lord, into your hands I commit our remodeling project.”

“Lord, into your hands I commit the direction of our nation.”

“Lord, into your hands I commit this new job opportunity.”

Can you relate to any of those? If you can, than it may mean that you, like me, care about the fate of the people involved or that you desire for all to turn out well.

Most of these situation are still going on, so I haven’t yet reached closure on them, but one thing I’ve discovered as I watch God work is that he provides for us very, very well, and with exquisite timing. His outcomes are so much better than what I could accomplish in my own power and with my limited perspective. It feels good to commit into God’s hands the people and the things I care about.

Psalm 31 has a somber mood until the last two verses. If your trust in God is at a crossroads because you’ve run up against a challenging obstacle, then let these verses help you move to a new level of faith in him.

Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. (Psalm 31: 23-24).

God will keep you. He can hold the things that matter most to you. He preserves you and strengthens your heart. Keep hoping in him.

Hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NRSV)

This statement about hope from the Apostle Paul comes at the end of a list of qualities suffering produces in a person’s life. Ouch. If you are like me, you don’t want to have to go through the suffering in order to get to the love. But, for better or for worse, this is how God chooses to shape us.

Peter makes a similar list which includes qualities like goodness, self-control, and godliness, ending in the same place Paul does with love. (2 Peter 1:5-8). Why is the path to love such a long road? Why can’t God just give us the love and be done with it?

Peter says we must make every effort to support our faith with goodness, self-control, endurance, and godliness. Through them, we receive God’s promises and escape the corruption that is in the world (2 Peter 1:4). Because we possess these traits as our own, we get to participate in God’s divine nature.

This is the high calling to spiritual growth, and a worthwhile one. The journey to perfected love may last for our entire lives, but God doesn’t leave us trudging along on our own. Hope is our constant friend. As we patiently endure, our character matures. We develop godliness, which creates in us a greater capacity to love.

Hope keeps us looking to the end of our days when we will stand before the Lord and let our lives, our priorities, and our loves speak for us. Hope is the confidence we have in an eternal home waiting for us.

Until we arrive there, hope is also the belief that things will turn out well. We don’t always know how sufferings can work in our favor. Life can sometimes feel hopeless, like we don’t have a good reason to carry on. Everything seems to fall apart, to abandon us, and to ultimately disappoint us.

If we read Romans 5 closely, we notice Paul saying that hope does not disappoint us. Really? So, if this is true, then why do we feel disappointed so much of the time?

I wonder if Paul is suggesting a shift of our affections away from the people or the material goods that should be making us happy, and onto God. If hope doesn’t disappoint and yet we still feel disappointed, then where in our lives are we not looking to him for all that we need?

Love is the ultimate prize, and it is given through the Holy Spirit whom God has already sent to us. Following the Holy Spirit’s leading will shield us from disappointment. This isn’t to say that painful things we must grieve will never happen. Rather, Paul is exhorting us to bounce back. The Holy Spirit is a comforter. God is a redeemer. Christ is our Savior. These persons of the Trinity will help us stand on our own two feet again. And when we do, we will have a greater level of endurance, of patience, of character, of godliness, of love, and of hope.

Hope helps us become different people. We change as we rack up victories. Each one proves to us that God stands behind his word. This assurance colors our sufferings with meaning, moving us to higher levels of power.

Cling to hope as you climb.

Let it anchor you, encourage you, and expand your vision. It won’t disappoint you.

Evil is rising in the world and in our culture. It surrounds us. We don’t have to look very far or try with any effort to find it. Darkness hovers, increasingly more accessible.

If you are like me, you feel a variety of responses to the condition of our world. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the levels of evil. Other times I get angry at the permissions evil has been given to infiltrate and destroy. When I’m not angry or overwhelmed, I want to work for change so that I can feel like I’ve done something about the situation instead of sitting back and complaining or going into hiding.

Here we are in the fourth week of Lent, the season in which God helps us see our sinfulness leading us to turn to him for redemption. His call to us as his followers includes a delicate mix of intercession for the lost, witness of his work in our lives, and rest in him as our refuge.

In the remainder of this devotional, I’ll share with you Bible verses that strengthen, comfort, and guide as we continue to stand in the world shining the light of truth and hope.

I trust the Lord will speak to you, as he has to me, through His Word.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:5-11 (NIV)

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 (NIV)

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:1-7 (NIV)

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. Psalm 71:21(NKJV)

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (NIV)

You are my Lord. Do not withhold your compassion from me. Let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. Psalm 40:11

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Psalm 57:7 (NIV)

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22 (NIV)

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)

Stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 39:17-22 (NIV)

Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25

This portion of verse 25 is the only cheerful statement in all of the seventh chapter of Romans. In reading through this chapter, we find Paul in a struggle for his life, as though he’s tangled up in an arm wrestle with an octopus. His two arms against the octopus’s eight. The poor man doesn’t stand a chance, and he knows it.

Paul isn’t necessarily complaining about his condition. Rather, he’s giving us an honest look at an impossible dilemma. In verse 25 he says that what he wants to do he doesn’t do. And again in verse 19 he says that he doesn’t do the good he wants to do. Instead, he keeps on doing evil.

The monstrous octopus that has a suffocating hold in Paul is his own sin. It gets in his way. In verse 21 he says that he finds a certain law at work: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” At least he intends to do good. He delights in God’s word (verse 22), which means that he is aware and accepting of what God requires of him.

But in verse 23 he goes on to say that he sees another law at work in him, waging war against the law of his mind (God’s word) and making him a prisoner of the law of sin.

Now we can see Paul’s unsolvable dilemma. He wants to do good. He knows what good is. He’s learned the instructions from God’s word of how to accomplish good.

And yet—evil aggravates his every step, throwing him off course, distracting him from his goal, distorting the instructions, and thwarting his efforts.

No wonder we see him thrown down on the mat heaving, exhausted, and ready to give up. “What a wretched man I am!” he cries out. “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (verse 24).

Poor guy. It looks like he’s going to lose. The suction-cup-covered octopus of sin has triumphed. Evil appears stronger. It sucks the life right out of him a little at a time until he has no strength to fight and even less of a desire to.

And this is how Romans chapter 7, one of the most real and unrefined chapters of the Bible would end, except that he drags in one more breath and wheezes, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The answer to his dilemma has come. It is the deliverance of God. If God wouldn’t intervene on Paul’s behalf, death would have swallowed him. Evil would have had the last word if Paul operated in his own strength. But he doesn’t. He relies only and fully on God’s power to save him. Thank goodness the book of Romans doesn’t end there. It goes into a celebration in chapter 8 of living life in the Spirit, and then becoming more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37).

Paul threw off the power his sinful nature had over him. He understood that he must be a slave to something (Romans 7;25). The reality of being bound to another doesn’t go away. But because of God’s work of redemption, we can serve one who gives freedom and love instead of evil, death, and destruction.

He says in Romans 7:17 that, “it is no longer myself who do it (those things he does not want to do) but the sin living in me.”

Paul faced down his spiritual enemies, whatever they were, and he completely defeated them because over in Galatians 2, he says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The Presence of Christ replaced the law of sin. This doesn’t mean, as believers, we no longer have the potential to sin, but that the nature still inside us that wants to indulge in it has decreasing power over us.

Paul’s struggle is our struggle. His dilemma is our dilemma. The good we want to do we don’t do. Evil comes more natural and suggests itself more provocatively than good does. But in the power of Christ, we can accomplish victory.

This passage from Romans is one of the suggested texts for the third Sunday of Lent. During this season of prayer and confession, call upon the Lord to deliver you from the slavery to sin, once and for all. Allow him to crucify it so that his Presence exclusively lives in you.  

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

This is one of the most meaningful truths found in the Bible. Paul confidently declares that nothing can separate him from God’s love. He is secure in God’s care for him. Nothing can snatch him away. Paul was a person who knew hardship. In 2 Corinthians 11 we have a complete list of them in Paul’s own words:

Five times he received from the Jews forty lashes minus one (verse 24).

Three times beaten with rods (verse 25).

Pelted with stones (verse 25).

Three times shipwrecked (verse 25).

One night and a day spent in the open sea (verse 25).

In danger from rivers, from bandits, from fellow Jews, and from Gentiles (verse 26).

In danger in the country, in the city, and at sea (verse 26).

In danger from false believers (verse 26).

He has labored without sleep (verse 27).

He has been hungry and thirsty, cold and naked (verse 27).

This list of trouble occurs in a larger passage with the theme of boasting. Paul lists off all the ways he has suffered so that he can demonstrate how well God has cared for him.

Shipwrecks, beating, and hunger do not at first strike us as ways God would care for someone. They aren’t, unless you look at it like Paul does. 2 Corinthians 11:30 says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” Paul understands that power comes through weakness. “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

For Christ’s sake, he is willing to experience weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties because when he is weak, he is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Now that we’ve gained a bit of insight into Paul’s perspective, we need to go back to Romans 8. The list of forces that threaten to separate us from God comes at the end of a passage that describes Christians as justified conquerors. He uses very clear, bold words to say things like this:

If God is for us, who can be against us? (verse 31)

Who will bring any charges against those God has chosen? It is God who justifies (verse 33).

In all these things (the trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword mentioned in verse 35) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (verse 37).

Paul is making the point that God’s love completely sustains our lives. It regulates our minds and calibrates our hearts. God’s love holds us steady. It informs us on who to believe, giving us the standard against which to measure truth.

When we have in place our secure faith along with a conviction of the truth, we live in the safest place in the world.

I’ve never been shipwrecked, beaten or pelted with stones, or left for dead on the open sea. That, to me would be the ultimate test of my trust in God. I’m grateful for the heroes of the Bible, like Paul, who have endured the worst and then lived to tell about it. His stories help us keep our perspective.

If Paul can meet terrifying danger and real, intentional threats on his life with the assurance that none of it changes the levels of love God pours out on him, then I hope that I can meet the anxieties and sufferings in my life with the same confidence.

God is fighting your battle for you.

He holds you in the palm of his hand.

His love for you is high and long and wide and deep (Ephesians 3:18), and nothing in this world has the power to remove you from it.

This passage from Romans 8 is one of the texts suggested for meditation during this second week of Lent. Use of this passage during Lent tells me that God wants us to delight in our frailties, in our weaknesses, and in our limitations. Only when we face them and accept them do we throw ourselves in full reliance on his love.

It takes courage, but keep confessing sin. Turn your weaknesses and temptations over to him. He will shine through them giving you increasing power, strength, and a calm faith in his deep love for you.

Prayer

The collect from the Common Book of Prayer designated for the second Sunday of Lent:

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to keep ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.