I returned to those prayer texts that had seemed too dry to me the last time I used Scripture passages. That seems so long ago!

I began with 1 John 1: 5 – 22. As I read my Father took me over my day and showed me how I had become lax and undisciplined over the holidays. Because of this, I had missed several chances to do good today. Verse 2:1, “I am writing this to keep you from sin . . .” showed me the importance of this warning. How good my Father is to chastise me so gently, and to answer my prayer that He show me my hidden faults! What greater proof could I ask for of His love for me and His willingness to forgive me?

From there, He led me on to Romans 5: 12 – 21. There were several verses that gave me trouble. Verse 13, “ . . . before the law there was sin, even though sin is not imputed when there is no law . . .” seemed a paradox, but I know that a paradox usually contains wisdom worth having, so I asked my Father to explain this. He gave me two examples. Murder, Cain’s sin, was a sin before the Law of Moses since it is of that law which is written in the human heart. Some societies of people may make certain exceptions, but willful killing is forbidden by all. However, no sin would have been ascribed to, say, Abraham had he eaten pork. He was before the law, and was in ignorance of God’s will in this for His Chosen People. There is no universal, natural law regarding pork: in some places there was not much else to eat!

Verse 20, “the law came to increase offenses. . .” was a similar paradox. Again, I asked my Father’s help in understanding it. He showed me that his Son was convicted of supposed sins against the law, resulting in the great offenses against Him. Without these offenses, there could have been no victory over sin. Sin contained its own defeat! I don’t think I could have really understood this, nor the rest of this passage, had I not seen the victory over Satan earlier. My Father certainly knows what He’s doing!