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Gloom or Doom
by Ann Robinson-Worley
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Whenever you are in vital contact with Jesus you do not have to worry about living a life of gloom, despair and doom because the blood of Jesus has delivered you from sin and death. God wants to work his miracles in our lives but our sins hold back His blessings. Isaiah 59:2-8 "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.
No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace." Its our iniquities that build a wall between us and God.
Because God is Holy He will not look upon sin. " And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities." Isaiah 64:7 Since He has turned away from us as we rebel against Him, He refuses to hear our prayers. There is only one prayer for the unrepentant to pray that will ensure the Lord's hearing. The prayer of confessing our sins and repenting of them and asking for forgiveness. King David prayed," Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions." Psalm 51:1 In the Old Testament it talks about a sin offering that was required for people to be cleansed of their sin but the shed blood of Jesus Christ did away with the sin offering that was required. His blood cleanses us of all our sins.
Those who are unredeemed or unrepentant can only practice sin and evil in their lives. In the name of self-gain they practice evil deeds and acts of violence and the shedding of innocent blood. The very way that they walk is a crooked road. There is no peace of heart or mind for those who choose to live in sin and death. They have only an endless struggle for security and hope where there is none. They grope along in darkness because their ways are evil.
Whey they seek justice they cannot find it. In their futility and hopelessness of their lost condition there is produced groanings and cryings that can only add to their sense of lostness. Instead of crying out to a forgiving God they continue their unrepentant rebellion against Him. The lost mind is only capable of conceiving and muttering words of falsehood. "God doesn't care about me! If He cared then He wouldn't have allowed all this suffering in my life! "
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Our only shred of hope is that we acknowledge our sins! When we begin to see the causes of our degradation it becomes possible for the Lord to reach us with redemption. When the picture seems black and hopeless we must remember that the Lord did not create us for gloom, despair and agony!
God sought for an intercessor among man but found none. His response to the unsaved state of mankind was to intervene himself. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." 1 John 2:2
He came as our spiritual conqueror in full battle gear. His judgements are Holy. He will bring recompense on all His enemies according to their deeds He will repay. For those who call upon Him in true repentance He becomes their protector. "So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." Isaiah 59:19 The Lord will come as your redeemer and lift you out of the slavery of sin with price of His blood. He shall deliver you out of the snare of the evil. "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence." Psalm 91:3
What are the benefits to those who do turn to the Lord? You will arise from the gloom, despair and agony which your circumstances have kept you ensnared in. "Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you." Isaiah 60:1 You will shine with the radiant Glory of the Lord for your light has come. No more groping in hopelessness and darkness. The Glory of His radiant face has risen upon you! "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:12 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Gal 5:11