Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made
right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3).
Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes,
with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I
see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we
see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see
so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for
God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really
believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of
hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has
done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful
realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of
hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been
accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is
equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves . . .” (Ezekiel 37:12).
When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from
Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever
given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He
will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that
in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be
without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in
me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
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