"The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26
I've been praying this passage as a prayer for a Christian woman who has abandoned and divorced her husband. And every time I pray it seems backwards. I would expect a knowledge of the truth to lead to repentance. Wouldn't you? The devil has you confused ("held captive by him to do his will"). So the Holy Spirit begins to reason with you. He helps you to understand what you are doing is wrong and why it is wrong. And because of this you repent.
That's not what the passage says. The passage says that the repentance is a gift from God and the knowledge comes after the repentance. You don't repent because you came to your senses, you come to your sense after you repent! Does this mean that the devil can build some kind of a stronghold in my life (a "snare" that holds me "captive to do his will") that is so strong that I can't think my way out of it? Does he bring us into a state of pure moral blindness where we simply can not see the truth any longer (at least as it applies to the sin that binds us)?
So all of a sudden, while praying for this woman, I find myself asking if I shouldn't begin to pray this for me! In what areas of my life am I so blind, so completely given over to Satan's control, that I can't even begin to see things from a godly perspective until God Himself rescues me by giving me the gift of repentance? Where am I acting so irrationally that I literally need God's help so that I can come to my senses?
Let us pray.
I've been praying this passage as a prayer for a Christian woman who has abandoned and divorced her husband. And every time I pray it seems backwards. I would expect a knowledge of the truth to lead to repentance. Wouldn't you? The devil has you confused ("held captive by him to do his will"). So the Holy Spirit begins to reason with you. He helps you to understand what you are doing is wrong and why it is wrong. And because of this you repent.
That's not what the passage says. The passage says that the repentance is a gift from God and the knowledge comes after the repentance. You don't repent because you came to your senses, you come to your sense after you repent! Does this mean that the devil can build some kind of a stronghold in my life (a "snare" that holds me "captive to do his will") that is so strong that I can't think my way out of it? Does he bring us into a state of pure moral blindness where we simply can not see the truth any longer (at least as it applies to the sin that binds us)?
So all of a sudden, while praying for this woman, I find myself asking if I shouldn't begin to pray this for me! In what areas of my life am I so blind, so completely given over to Satan's control, that I can't even begin to see things from a godly perspective until God Himself rescues me by giving me the gift of repentance? Where am I acting so irrationally that I literally need God's help so that I can come to my senses?
Let us pray.
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