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“O Wretched Man that I Am!”

                Do you ever get frustrated with yourself? Maybe it is because you have been trying to do the best you can at something, but you continue to fall short of the goal. Maybe you have been trying to be a better Christian, but you keep finding yourself stumbling over the same problem areas. Maybe you have been trying to be a better spouse, friend, son, daughter, or parent, but as much as you try, you still cannot seem to get things right.
                The apostle Paul also knew what it meant to be frustrated with himself as he reflected upon his life under the law of Moses. In seventh chapter of Romans, Paul was speaking to people who knew the law of Moses and also knew that they were dead to that law through the death of Christ (Rom. 7:1-4). Paul wanted to make sure that his readers understood that the law itself was not sin just because it pointed out and defined sin (Rom. 7:7). Yet at the same time, even though the law informed man of what sin was, that in and of itself was no comfort. The fact that man understands what sin is only makes him painfully aware of the fact that he is a sinner (Rom. 7:14) and, left to himself, he will die spiritually. So, Paul then goes on talk about how he felt as one who was trying to avoid sin, as the law instructed him, only to find frustration and many unsuccessful attempts. He said in verse 15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (NKJV). Then, later in verse 19, he wrote, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”  As a man trying to live the best he could under the law of Moses, Paul found himself continually falling short. This frustration later caused him to proclaim, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). Paul could not live a lifestyle pleasing to God all by himself. He needed God’s help. God sent help and that is why Paul goes on to say, “I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a).
                Once again, it should be emphasized that Paul was speaking of his condition under the law of Moses and not as a Christian. Nevertheless, we can still relate to the frustration that comes to us sometimes in life as we try to be “faithful unto death” (Rev. 2:10). If we are faithful Christians, we are going to want to work on the areas in our own lives in which we fall short of God’s glory. We also know that no matter how hard we work, we will still never attain to sinless perfection. Along the way, we hurt ourselves and others by the things that we do and say, but if our hearts are right, we will continue to come to God in prayerful penitence (Psa. 51:17) and seek his forgiveness and the forgiveness of the ones we have wronged. We, like Paul, might sometimes want to proclaim, “O wretched man that I am,” but we have to recognize, like Paul, the source of our deliverance. At times, we might face what we consider to be an insurmountable problem, but we have to remember that “with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). If we try to do it by ourselves, we are doomed to fail, but God promises to be with us if we will put our trust in Him (Heb. 13:5).
Spencer Strickland