Good News at Rock Bottom: A 5-Day Devotional Plan With Ray OrtlundSample

Good News in Being Trapped

One of Satan's oldest tricks is this: he shows the bait, but he hides the hook. We understand that from painful experience, don’t we? We know by now that sin is no thrill ride. It’s more like a bad time-share deal - easy to get in, hard to get out, and not even much fun while we’re there.

It’s hard to think about. The memories are painful—those moments when we were selfish, reckless, stupid. We all know what it’s like to realize, “My life was boring and confining. I felt like I deserved better. So I looked at that sin and thought, ‘That might be fun.’ But now? The bitter aftertaste of shame, self-hatred, and devastated relationships! Still worse, I hate this wretched sin, but I also need it. How do I get free again?” Our ugly secret sits there deep inside us, like a squatter occupying a building. We’re smiling on the outside, but we’re sick on the inside. “What if my family, what if my friends, find out?”

Is there any rock bottom as horrible as that?

But if we grow strong simply by a rational decision, backed up with enough willpower, why did Jesus say, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34)? How can we keep choosing what is good when there is a wild drivenness inside us for what is bad? That is slavery— our slavery.

So to God we turn, with nothing but need.

So the first thing you need is the miraculous touch of God’s grace way down deep. Bring your failure, your wreckage, to him. He can take it. He can even flip it into redemption, so that you shine the most brightly where now you hide the most secretly. Your heartbroken “Take me” is where his wonder-working grace shows up.

Reflection Questions

1. Jesus said, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). That’s serious. What did he understand about us and our sin that we tend not to believe, or don’t even want to believe?
2. What prayer do you want to offer God? What do you most need to ask him for right now? He will hear, receive, and answer your prayer.