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)
Lord Jesus, there are times when our emptiness feels like the Grand Canyon, seasons when our pain feels like it has no beginning or end, and weeks (months) when our loneliness is magnified to the point we’re dangerously vulnerable. Those are the hours, days, and weeks you MUST be our satisfaction, Jesus. Otherwise, we’re capable of anything.
Sin isn’t just “crouching at our doors” to control us, it’s also whispers inside our hearts to entice us, and tantalizes our longings to destroy us. We don’t need clichés, maxims, or sayings; we need a living Christ for the deadly perils. Like Cain’s resentment towards Abel (and you), (Gen. 4), David lusting for Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11); Esau craving food (Gen. 25:29-34); and Asaph restless for prosperity (Psalm 73)—we too experience seasons of hard-to-resist temptation.
You saved us from eternal separation, now save us from self-implosion, Jesus. Don’t let us have to learn, yet again, sin gives pleasure for a brief season. Don’t let us drink from mud puddles, when you freely give 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.
