February 21

See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand. — Deut 32:39 BSB

The work of grace, from its very beginnings, penetrates deeply into the soul. It wounds and lays open the conscience before the eyes of an infinitely pure and holy God. As the Scripture says, “The entrance of your word gives light.” God’s word is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

True conviction must be thorough. The field of the heart must be plowed and broken up before the seed can find a home to grow. There is much work to be done in a sinner’s heart before Christ can dwell there by faith or be formed in him as the hope of glory. The heart is naturally hard, full of pride and lust, overgrown with the weeds of self-righteousness and reliance on the flesh. These must be cleared away before we are ready to receive a free grace salvation, to be separated from the world and false professions, to be made bitter toward the things of time and sense, and to be brought to seek mercy at the foot of the cross.

Conviction, then, must go deep or at least be thorough in order to make room for Christ and His salvation. So it is with any revelation of Christ or application of His blood, any visitation of His presence, or any experience of His love. These divine realities do not stay on the surface but penetrate deep into the soul, into the innermost being. How easily is everything else forgotten, but what the Holy Spirit Himself writes in the heart remains. People might say, “How well we’ve heard!” but all is forgotten before they’ve even left the house of prayer. They read a chapter, close the Bible, and with it, all they’ve read is closed too. Many experience brief pangs of conviction or passing desires but show little evidence of living under the Spirit’s anointing. The Holy Spirit does not let God’s children off so easily. He holds them fast to the work of conviction until they are utterly slain. And when He blesses, He heals as deeply as He wounds, revealing the gospel with the same power by which He applied the law.