Watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. Gen. 4:7 (NLT)
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matt. 26:41 (NIV)
I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:9-11 (ESV)
Dear Lord Jesus, there are times when the emptiness feels like the Grand Canyon on steroids; when the pain feels like it had no beginning and will have no end; when loneliness is magnified to the point we’ll welcome any open door or welcoming embrace; when the conflicts of heart and life are SO intense, we’ll risk anything with anyone for a few moments of oasis and relief. Those are the days, weeks, and seasons when you better be enough, for our languishing, vulnerable, raw hearts. Otherwise, Jesus, we have no hope.
Jesus, sin isn’t just “crouching at our doors” to control us; it’s also whispering inside of our hearts to destroy us. We need, you and we need each other. We don’t need clichés, maxims, or sayings; we need a living Christ for the deadly perils in front of us. Like Cain angry able Abel (Gen. 4); David sighting a Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11); Esau smelling fresh cooking (Gen. 25:29-34); and Asaph envious of the arrogant (Psalm 73), we too have strong longings and opportunities for “relief” that will only lead to destruction.
You’re saved us from hell, Jesus, now save us from ourselves. Don’t let us outlive our love for you. Don’t let us have to learn, yet again, sin only gives pleasure for a season—a very brief season. Don’t let us settle for oatmeal when you give us bread from heaven; don’t let us drink from mud puddles, when you offer us living water; don’t let us look to people for what you alone can give us.
We make David’s cry our own: “O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” So very Amen, we pray, Jesus, in your powerful and grace-full name.
