This has been a long, depressing month. Where’s God? Our political leaders seem to wallow in partisan interests. Church? Another college in my denomination is closing, depressing to an education person like me. Media? They give us their versions of truth, always cutting segments short because of a commercial break. And Covid… Is there any comfort?
“If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7). Law is a basic principle: there’s right and there’s wrong, but you don’t have to accept that truth. Tell a kid not to put his hand in the cookie jar… Tell a husband to put his dishes in the dishwasher… Tell me I can’t afford that new tech gizmo or new car… What’s my gut reaction? Gonna do it! Everyone of us has strong cantankerous feelings deep within us. What’s right and wrong isn’t the problem; our natural rebelliousness is. “But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. …when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died” (Romans 7:8-9). That’s where our society is at. There’s law and there’s sin, and sin fights against anyone telling us how we should live, be that other people or even our Creator. Yup, we’re deep in the middle of a barnyard.
Acknowledging our mess is the beginning of comfort. “The law (not just a vague right or wrong but all God’s expectations of us) is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. It was sin, producing death in me through what is good (the law), in order that sin might be shown to be sin…. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin” (Romans 7:12-14). So, where’s God? He’s letting us see how wise we are, or not. He’s letting us fantasize that of ourselves know the truth, or not. Read Romans 1:18-32. God’s waiting for us to come to our senses, call it genuine repentance.
Our national mood is not repentant, but you and I can be. “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:26). That for me is the little beginning of comfort.