was extremely strong. He constantly boasted of his ability to make chains no one could break. Likewise, he claimed he could snap anyone else’s chains. People would bring him chains from time to time, but he had little trouble finding a weak link. Then, one day, he fell into the dis favor of his king, and was thrown into prison. Aside, to his friends, he mocked the chains which held him, boasting that no one’s chains could hold him; he could break the very best. When the guards weren’t look ing, he began carefully sifting through each link, one after the oth er. He went through them several times until in desperation he came to the horrible realization that they had bound him with his own chains! If anything, this is an exact picture of what the Psalmist, David, had in mind. The little iniquities become so much a part of the warp and woof of our lives, they are as secret sins in the sense that they are now habit ual and we no longer think of them as really sinful. You see, we have become bound by our own chains. Science tells us that we may carry germs in our system for years with out any danger. They remain dor mant and harmless. Then, when cir cumstances are right, the body weak or lacking proper care and nourish ment, these germs may seek the op portunity to break out and gain the upper hand. Cancer sometimes works this way. What a picture of sin! It is in such an insidious manner that sin seeks to work. Magazines and newspapers have printed stories in recent days about some of the new electronic gear which can be used to eavesdrop, or just plain “snoop” on people. A de vice was recently shown in New York City looking like an ordinary telephone. Dialing the number of an individual somewhere else in the United States, without that person’s phone actually ever ringing, and without his lifting the receiver, the person instigating the “snoop” can
Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland (right), president of Biola, chats with Rev. Don Rood, Western sec retary for the Pocket Testament League.
hear everything that goes on in the room, with the victim totally un aware of what’s happening. Without his knowing it, his telephone becomes a sensitive microphone. This is a lit tle disconcerting, to say the least. But all these new electronic gadgets cannot even begin to compare with the fact that God’s ears are always open. His eyes never close, and He knows and sees. This should give us pause for concern and introspec tion. Have you seen these glass beehives where the interested person can watch the creatures at work? Even so the Lord has nothing hidden be fore Him. This is why He calls us to cleansing. The wonderful part of it is not only our initial and immedi ate acquittal promised in such verses as I John 1:9, but also something more wonderful. Because of the fin ished work of Christ on Calvary’s Cross, we can also claim deliverance from the power of sin. The Holy Spirit wants to keep us from going back, committing the same sinful deeds over and over and over again. Could you single out the most holy man in your church congregation and ask him if he would mind making known to all the people his every thought for the week, or even for the day? He might be tempted to offer you the biggest bribe possible, or at least an alibi, because there are no individuals without sin. What clearer words are there than “All
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