Davidman: law vs. righteousness

Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Meditation:
    The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone! Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways. A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
    —Hosea 4:16-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Two thousand years of failure have not taught some reformers that you can’t stop sin by declaring it illegal. Two thousand years have not taught them that you can’t save a man’s soul by force—you can only lose your own in the attempt. Drunkenness and gambling and secularism and lechery—various hopeful churchmen have earnestly tried to outlaw them all; and what is the result? A drunken nation, a gambling nation, a secularist nation, an adulterous nation. And, often, a ruined Church.
    ... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1955, reprint, Westminster John Knox Press, 1985, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Hos. 4:16-19; Ps. 81:12; Zech. 7:11; Matt. 15:14; Rev. 22:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we rest in Your grace. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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