Dark Places

Our world is a beautiful and a dreadful place. Her beauty is expressed through waterfalls and bumblebees and cumulus clouds and other natural things. But her dread is largely a human component. Murder, strife, warfare, deprivation. Our civilization is one that seems to teeter on the edge of destruction all the time, and no longer from acts of nature but from ourselves.

But today we are going to ignore all that and instead focus on the dark places of the human soul. Consider man: within him are the most noble dreams... and the most horrible nightmares. Once upon a time, all we were capable of was good. But our forebears, standing in that primeval garden, made a certain choice. And that choice led to death for us all.

But what is choice? A choice, in its purest form, would be a decision between at least two things; a decision removed from coercion, manipulation, or force. A free decision. Because if it is not free, then it's not really a choice, is it?

Thus: life in a fallen world. God, in His love, has extended His grace to us. In return, we must abandon all else and pursue Him and His way. But, as we have discussed before, human beings are very easily distracted. There are many things besides God that look inviting and promise satisfaction.

And so we choose, in full sight of God and in complete knowledge of our actions, the wrong things. We soon find, however, that our freedom to choose is not inviolable. Sin is much like a boa constrictor, in that you can at first drape it over your shoulders because it is fun, or thrilling, or impressive. But it soon becomes evident to you that the boa constrictor isn't going anywhere. In fact, the more you struggle against it the more it constricts until the life is all but squeezed out of you.

The phrase, "a slave to sin", takes on a new meaning. Sin is not something you can dabble in or just try out. It will, slowly but surely, rob you of the ability to choose, until the only option on the table is to plunge deeper into sin.

Who then can be saved? One of the most vital doctrines of Christianity is the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God, in all His grandeur and majesty, has chosen us, His church, as living temples for His Spirit. Why? Because no one can make it on their own. Thanks to our dear friend John Calvin, this idea is known as the total depravity of mankind.

In my life, without the gracious restraint of the Holy Spirit, all of my thoughts and actions would only be evil, continually. As my sins and iniquities pile up and threaten to crush me, it is Jesus who descends into that hell alongside me and turns my face back up to the light.

And then I have a choice.

I can choose to grasp His hand and get pulled up out of the pit, or I can continue to dig it deeper.

There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I wish to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.

Romans 7:18,19

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves, from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death!

Psalm 68:19,20