"Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me." Psalm 119:133
Some of you
have been enjoying the photos of this excavation process at Lake Gloria where
we are taking all the muck out of the bottom of the lake. Let me tell you, this mud is thick
and sticky stuff. One afternoon
this fall my kids and I were attempting to walk our way through the mud. It was not long before ankle-deep mud
became knee- deep mud. It got
worse, knee-deep mud became thigh-deep mud. At one point my oldest son got trapped. He literally could not move. He called out, “Dad, Dad”. He was stuck fast in the mud until I
came and rescued him out. Many of
you won’t be surprised to hear that in the process his crocs came off and were
virtually impossible to find and recover from the mud.
The mud had mastery over my
son’s movement. He no longer was
free to walk as he wished. This is
the picture painted for us by the Psalm writer in the verse above. He knows, probably from past
experience, that sin can get dominion over us. It can master us.
The Apostle Peter warns us of this in Sunday’s reading (2 Peter
2:18-19). In speaking of false
teachers Peter states, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by
sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live
in error. They promise them
freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever [has
dominion over] a person, to that he is enslaved.” These verses tell us that there are those who are already
enslaved to sin, ie. “those who live in error”. Also there are those “who are barely escaping” which means weak
Christians. If you are waffling
and wavering in your faith this may describe you.
You are ripe for being fooled into thinking that the world is offering
you freedom from a "boring Christian life of following rules". When in reality the world is offering
slavery to corruption. Real freedom
is being able to do what you want to do, but what you want to do being what is
best for you. False freedom is
doing what you want to do, but what you want being that which corrupts you. Sin is destructive and anyone who has
been enslaved to a sin knows this.
Sin does not give life it sucks it from you. God is the giver of all good gifts the best of which are love, joy, and peace. The Psalm writer knows this and so he pleads with God to
keep his steps steady, that is, on firm ground. He desires that no sin have mastery over him.
How about you? Is there a sin that has dominion over
you? Are you a slave? Perhaps you are longing to be
free. Like my son in the mud, we also need a Father
to come and rescue us. We need
our heavenly Father. I would
encourage you to use the I John and the Psalm reading for today (Tuesday) as
your prayer and as your guide to seeking rescue and redemption. Pray out loud the words of Psalm 119: 169-176. Let the Bible’s words be your prayer to
God.
