Monday, June 30, 2008

Facing Pain.

12:52 AM by Christi Bowman

I am doing what I LOVE to do this week...spending some time with teens. I am at Harding University for the first time ever. Harding has a pretty campus, and uplift is REALLY fun. The week after next I am going to Rockford Christian Camp (RCC), a more outdoorsy camp. I am afraid that Uplift will have spoiled me. Kevin calls Uplift "sissy" camp. I am liking "sissy" camp!!

Today I went to a class called forgiveness. I actually went twice...oops. I am SO lost without Kevin. He takes care of me! The teacher began his class by focusing on II Samuel 12. Nathan is exposing David's sin. It was not all that long ago that my sins were exposed, and I have experienced an amazing healing. So, as I sat there listening to the teacher I was able to identify with David. As the teacher read the story, out loud, I felt a relief for the man after God's own heart. We all have a sin problem. We sin because we are broken. God wants to heal us. God wanted David healed. As I sat there thinking of this I was reminded of Romans 7. I have struggled understanding this passage about the law. I have struggled understanding the law. In essence Romans 7 says that without the law, God's people would never have known sin. The law is what called sin, sin.

Romans 7:7, 10, 13

7Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.

10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

13 But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Sitting there, identifying with David, I was able to understand some scripture that I have struggled over. Because of my legalistic upbringing, sometimes, without even knowing it, I bring a set of "God is mean" glasses to study the Bible through. I had used those on Romans 7. I had come to the conclusion that God had something to prove to the Israelites. He forced the law on them to torture them.

Now I see that the law was a gift that God gave His people. God wanted to expose the sin of the Israelites, through the law, so that they would know exactly what they were dealing with. God gave them a mirror to look into so they could see themselves for who they were...so that they could begin to heal. God wanted to heal them. While the other nations were lost in the darkness of their undefined sin, Israel could walk in the light and be justified by God. The law was God's grace to the Israelites...but they kept running for cover. They hid behind it and not in it. They used it as a judgment for others. They refused to see themselves in it. By throwing stones at others they condemned themselves.

We hide our weaknesses too. Sin is not limited to the things you do. You can also suffer under the sins people commit against you as well. We hide the hurt of consequence and exposure by cutting others down...we hide them by numbing the pain of consequence with addictions...things that make us feel good. Sometimes we can even hide behind silence. There are all sorts of things to hide sin behind. God wants to expose the sin in our lives whether it is the sins we have committed, the sins others have committed against us, or both. He wants us to embrace painful exposure not run from it. If we embrace it and stop running from it we will find Him in it...and He will begin the healing process.

(More on this soon)

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