February 16

Read: John 8:34

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God [it is] through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:24-25).

“Who Shall Deliver Me?”

Men and women of every age have been confronted by the tragic fact of carnality in the soul. Some in early Christian life and some after years of struggle have cried out with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who can save me from this deadly lower nature?” Then with Paul they have shouted, “Thank God! it has been done through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25, Williams)

There is deliverance. God allows the sin of our souls to harass and embarrass us only in order that we shall cry out for release. He hurts us only in order that He may help us through the pain that He causes. The Bible assures us, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.” And this chastening is given us for the precise purpose “that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:6-7, 10).

The discovery of unyielded ambitions, inner conflicts, carnal anger, or any other un-Christlike attitude is the occasion which God uses to reveal to us our spiritual need. No matter how the revelation may come, it is to be looked upon as a convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit to lead us into the experience of entire sanctification.

Let us then in this hour of unpleasant revelation yield ourselves to God’s diagnosis and prescription. He is the faithful Physician of the soul.

Search me, O God, and know my heart today; Try me, O Saviour, and know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; Cleanse me from ev’ry sin, and set me free.

— Edwin Orr