The Worst Imprisonment

The worst thing that God could do to a person in this life is to withdraw His gracious presence and give one over to the corruption of his own heart.

In Romans 1 when St. Paul explains the judgment of God upon those that reject the communication of God in nature, he repeats three times the nature of that judgment. And what is it? Three times the phrase is repeated: God gave them over. And to what did God give them over? To the lust of their own heart, to their own dishonorable passions, and to their own corrupt mind. According to the Bible, God judges us in this life by giving our corrupt desires free reign to run their course and eat us alive.

It was the late, great preacher Jonathan Edwards who said that there is enough “hell” in the human heart to consume a man if only God would cease to restrain it.

If we reject the gracious instruction of God, we are destined to become who we choose to be. We are destined to become those divorced from the beauty and gracious protection of God. We mustn’t think that we are escaping God’s judgment when it appears that we get away with our sin. God may be allowing us to become our own trap. In the haunting words of John Milton: “Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!) the dungeon of thyself.”

Something to think about from “The Kingdom Perspective.”

“Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord.The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’”

~ Psalm 10: 1-4