Our whole devotional today pinpoints our need for external, divine help from above – and thankfully, our God is merciful, gracious, and faithful to provide us with His frequent and generous help. We are forever getting ourselves into a host of troubles. Our predicament is illustrated in each of today’s readings: Psalm 88 – says that “darkness is my closest friend” (verse 18); Hosea 7 tells us that “we practice deceit” and “our sins engulf” us (verses 1-2); and Romans 7 confronts us all with similar issues: “I do not understand what I do,” and “What a wretched man I am!” (verses 14 and 24). In Psalm 88:9-18 we read that our condition in the troubles of sin makes our “eyes dim with grief” (verse 9). The Psalmist was given to “calling to the LORD every day” (verse 9), which is a good habit for us to develop. Although we know that God loves and accepts us, the Psalmist was feeling rejected of the Lord, which is the worst kind of rejection anyone could experience. We might also feel that same thing – for various reasons – including sin in our lives, the loss of loved ones or friends, setbacks in life, etc. Here, the writer hints at his rationale: “You have taken my companions and loved ones from me” (verse 18). When that happens, it’s easy for us to feel “rejected” (verse 14); “afflicted” (verse 15); “terrorized” (verse 15); and “engulfed by darkness” (verses 17-18). When we are feeling the pressures of Psalm 88, we should think about Hosea.
In Hosea 6-7, we see that God “desires mercy, not sacrifice, and … acknowledgement of Him rather than burnt offerings” (verse 6). Israel “broke the covenant” and “was unfaithful” (verse 7). Clearly, we exist and live in a continually wretched and desperate state, from which we alone are powerless to escape. But God earnestly desires that we “turn to Him” (Hosea 7:16) and that we “call to Him and cry out to Him for help” (cf., Psalm 88:9 and 13). We are desperately in need of His help, and I am thankful that He stands ever ready to help us. Help should be the chief focus and request of all our prayers. In a world where I am completely unable to help myself, I thank and praise God that He is loving and that He invites us to turn to Him for help.
In Romans 7:7-25, Paul addresses our problem – struggling with sin – for which we always need divine help. He states, “Sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment (i.e., the law), deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death” (verse 11). He tells us that “sin is utterly sinful” (verse 13), but apart from death, we would never be able to recognize sin for what it is (verse 13). We are so prone to sin – so caught up in sin and bound by it – that we don’t even know how sinful sin actually is. To help us, the Bible uses more than thirty different words to describe sin – words like trespass; evil; iniquity; corruption; wickedness; etc. And each of those diverse expressions offers us an enriched nuance about sin. As a result, Paul says that we “do not understand what we do – we are unspiritual and sold as slaves to sin” (verses 14-15). He says that “nothing good lives in us” (verse 18). Our predicament makes us “wretched” (verse 24), but “Thanks to God, Jesus Christ will rescue us from this hopeless condition. Clearly, we need help, but thankfully, help is available. May we always ask for it.
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