Death's knife
Soul Snack 68/11 ... Death's knife
Sin binds the sinner and yokes their very being.
My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. (Lam 1:14a)
It captures, consumes and refuses to release. Sin entangles and then engulfs. It is never satisfied. Sin multiplies distress into torment and morphs peace into pain.
See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. (Lam 1:20)
Sin's punishment to the sinner knows no grace and its grip is stubborn. Sin turns harmony to hatred and twists the knife of death just a fraction deeper.
Ignorance or even repentance are no successful pleas for mercy -- sin's ears are deaf and sin's eyes blind. Sin punishes in darkness and pretends in light. Each fresh dawn it feigns absence yet only to return and punish at night.
Repentance changes no events from yesterday; it only seduces for a pleasing future and provides hope in the present. Sin re-presents indulgence merely to bruise yet again. It parches the soul while rinsing the eyes.
Sin - the punisher of humans beckons only to death. Christ the permanent bearer of sin beckons only to life.
Christ's hands hold no knife to me, only those nails for me to see.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is 53:4-6)
Today's Soul Snippet:
"If God said it, expect it." anon