Have you ever been so angry, so bitterly so, that if you had had a gun in your hand you would have used it? And then afterwards, you just gave a sigh of relief--"Thank God, I didn't have one!"
Can you remember being involved in a sexual temptation so alluring, so powerful, that it almost swept you off your feet? And if it had overpowered you, it would have led you into a terrible tragedy of heartbreak?
If so, you can begin to appreciate Isaiah 54:17 which says: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME, saith the Lord."
When your heart got back to beating normally, you realized that it wasn't your own goodness that saved you from disaster; the dear Lord intervened and rescued you from making a fool of yourself. (Perhaps you are reading this in prison; in the first instance, you did have a gun; and now you have to pay. Or perhaps in that alluring sexual temptation, you did give in and you have suffered ever since. But there is still something to thank the Lord for: He has preserved your life and your soul through His forgiveness. The possibility for repentance is an enormous enrichment of grace. For everything you have short of Hades, say thanks.)
We all have the same genetic endowment of a sinful nature inherited from our fallen father Adam. Unless a Savior saves us from indulging it, we are forced to end up kneeling side by side with King Saul whose conscience forced him to confess: "Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly" (1 Sam. 26:21). You can't find words to tell the Lord thanks for saving you from that! This should encourage you to know and believe that you are indeed His child. Thankful, yes, but also humbled.
When you DO understand Isaiah 54:17, you will know that there is no sin in the book beyond your capacity for becoming guilty of it--apart from a divine Savior. Now you can walk on air until He comes in the clouds of heaven.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 6, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
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