October 23

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? — Rom 7:24 BSB

The struggles that the Apostle groaned under are experienced by all of God's quickened family. Blessed be the name of the Most High that He inspired the Apostle to record his experiences so that we might find comfort and relief in them. What would we have thought otherwise? We might have reasoned, ‘Here is an apostle who is perfectly holy, perpetually heavenly-minded, with nothing but the image of Christ in him, always living for the Lord’s glory, and continually enjoying communion with Him!’ We would have seen him as a perfect saint. And then, comparing ourselves to him, we would have despaired, seeing such a dreadful contrast within ourselves and thinking that we could never be saved! But because the Apostle shared the soul conflicts he endured, and because we can feel a measure of the same struggles in our own hearts, it encourages us. It supports us and leads us to believe that this is the way the saints are called to walk, no matter how rough, rugged, and perplexing the road may seem to them.

Be assured, if you have never cried out from the depths of your soul, “O wretched man that I am!” you are either dead in sin or dead in an empty profession of faith. If guilt, misery, and internal condemnation have never forced that cry from your heart, you can be sure that the life and power of God are not in your soul. But if, from time to time, this cry does arise in your breast, pressed out by the weight of sin and guilt, then you have a testimony that the same Lord who taught Paul is also teaching you.