Squeezing the life out of us

Squeezing the life out of us

Bible:Isaiah 64:1-9

You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we
be saved? (V.5

Reading

Recently I read about the unimaginable killing force of pythons. These snakes have been known to kill things much bigger than they are: crocodiles, hyenas and sometimes even humans. Pythons kill their prey by cutting off the blood flow—a quick but painful death. “The heart . . . doesn’t have enough strength to push against the pressure,” one expert said. The deadly snake literally squeezes the life out of its victims. Sin also squeezes the life out of us. The prophet Isaiah wrote about sin’s stranglehold on God’s people. “We continued to sin,” he said (ISAIAH 64:5). No matter how hard we try to rescue ourselves, change the things we do or cover up our selfishness and mess, “all of us have become like one who is unclean” (V.6). Sin is deadly, and it will not easily let us out of its grip. You would think that when we find ourselves in sin’s life-squeezing grip, wewould call out to God for help. Yet, “No one calls on your name” (V.7). This is sin’s web of lies: it is all about what we want, ignoring God and living as we think is best. Even when things are going wrong, we believe we are the ones who can fix it. We don’t realise how near we are to God’s help—if we’d only ask. Thankfully, no matter how far we’ve run or how much we’ve said “No” to Him, God doesn’t give up on us. His forgiveness is always available, because Jesus went to the cross to pay for all sin in full (HEBREWS 9:26). It means God is always ready to free us from sin’s grip.

SIN WANTS TO SQUEEZE GOD’S LIFE OUT OF US;
JESUS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SET US FREE.

YouTh Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries