Rescued from the body of death

Today’s devotional reading brings me back to Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

As I read this verse, I remembered my own time of feeling like that, as if my sin was clinging to me like a leech and sucking the life out of me.

Tradition says that Paul may have had a more disgusting image in mind when he wrote this. Apparently an ancient tribe near Tarsus (where Paul was born) tied the corpse of a murder victim to its murderer. As the corpse decayed, the decay spread to infect and execute the murderer. How awful, yet do I see sin as vividly destructive as that? I should.

The reading says it well, so I’ll share it (slightly edited). My thoughts are the same.

If the Holy Spirit has implanted that cry in my soul, “O wretched man that I am!” then the next words will follow as a necessary consequence — “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Where shall I look for deliverance? From what quarter can it come? Shall I look to the law? O no! That curses and condemns me, because I am continually breaking it. Can I look to friends? They may pity and sympathize, but they cannot remove the body of sin and death; it is too fast linked for them to remove. Shall I go to ministers of truth? I may hear what they say with approval, but there is something more needed to remove this chilling embrace of the body of sin and death. Shall I look to the Scriptures? They contain the remedy, but I want that remedy to be applied. “Who then shall deliver me?” What refuge can I look to? Whither can I go, or whither shall I turn? From what quarter can help or deliverance come?

See the embarrassment! View the perplexity of a convicted soul—looking here and looking there; turning to the right hand and turning to the left. Yet from one quarter only can the deliverance come.

The author goes on, adding that when Paul was brought to this low spot where he anxiously turned his eyes to every quarter to see where his deliverance could come—God blessed his soul with a view of His precious Son. The Holy Spirit worked in his heart that living faith, giving him the gift and ability to see Jesus as Savior and Lord.

While being in such a desperate state has no charm or appeal, it is a wonderful thing to realize that Jesus is the answer to my deepest spiritual needs.

Medical update: The gift of eight hours sleep does wonders. Thank You, Lord, for rest.