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Know Thyself... and Gain Wisdom

Has your ignorance ever manifested itself in such a way that you were shocked, grieved, and challenged? But then resolved to gain wisdom? Mine has...multiple times. One of the most memorable was the year after I got married. Something happened after Sarah and I tied the knot that prepared me for the reality of marital life.

Through the generosity of some close friends, Sarah and I enjoyed a one year anniversary in Hawaii. We composed a rough list of historic sites to hit before we left the Big Island. Among them was snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay. It was legendary for some of the most thrilling views of flourishing coral reefs and abundant marine life.

We couldn’t wait to go! This was before Google became a verb and 85% of Americans owned smart phones. So we did some research on our own, asked a few locals for some pointers, and headed out to the Bay with our snorkeling gear.

Upon arrival, we noticed a commercial pontoon boat docked near the registration desks with people loading up. We looked at each other and shrugged. For a small fee, the boat offered a guided tour into the bay for snorkelers and tourists (a lift to the reefs). We glanced at the distance from the dock to the bay and dismissed the offer, trying to save a buck and thinking pretty highly of our own swimming ability.

So off we went, into the deep, deeper, and choppy blue sea. Boy were we in for the shock of our lives. Kealakekua Bay was actually a one mile swim from the dock. It took us nearly 2 hours to cross the gap. And the conditions were terrible for swimming. The current was powerful. The waves were exhausting. Sheer cliffs with sharp shelves poking up out of the sea loomed nearby. But worst of all, there were menacing Barracuda swimming everywhere beneath us!—with razor sharp teeth!

So...consider the deep, mysterious ocean, dangerous creatures everywhere, sharp rocks, powerful waves, and a long distance to swim. Now add to that two young, naive, virtual newlyweds with inexperienced swimming skills in deep water, wearied bodies, and a self-centered will. We were greedy and cheap—so we declined to take the guided boat tour. We were naive and ignorant, so we attempted to make the swim without help.

About half way there, exhaustion set in. Then came the arguments, accusations, a few cuts and scrapes on our legs from the razor sharp cliff rocks, then fear of the creatures below us. After that came the realization we may not make it. We yelled at each other, then cried. Then we pushed through and made it to the bay, bloodied and battered.

Of course, we laugh about it now. But not then. Upon arriving at the Captain Cook monument on the edge of the Bay, we encountered some tourists who did not believe we swam all that way. They asked my wife how we planned to get back. She replied, “We swim.” They responded, “You die!”

We were both frustrated. We accused and blamed one another. We didn’t speak for hours. The swim back was silent and we fumed. It was the first major marital conflict we experienced as a couple. We were nearly killed! But check this out: the source of our conflict was not the devil. It was not the world. It was not my wife. It was not anything in, around, or even under Kealakekua Bay. It was much more sinister than that. It was me.

That was a parable for us about how marriage was going to work. And it’s exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans 7:21 when he says, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” I find a law, a principle, a sinister force present within me that hinders, opposes, and resists me. That’s indwelling sin.

Sin seeks to hide itself. Then express itself. Then excuse itself. Then accuse and condemn the sinner. A take-any from this verse if for believers to truly know themselves, to be aware of the enemy they carry around in their hearts. Christian, know thy enemy!

We know everything. We know about our houses. We have RING technology. If a dog walks across your driveway, or a raccoon passes gas on your front porch, you get a notification on your phone, complete with an automatically archived video.

We can check our bank accounts at any given time and know to the cent how much we have in checking or savings, with a history of our withdraws.

We can wear a fitbit and know our heart rate; how many steps we took, how many calories we burned.

With GPS technology, we can know how to get virtually anywhere in the world. Where we left our phones, where our kids are—even the location of our pets!

We can check our blood sugar, hair follicles, urine samples or saliva to figure out what’s going on in our bodies and where our levels fall.

We can know our personalty type through a series of online tests.

But the one code we’ll never break is our heart. Why? It’s deceitful. For that, we need supernatural wisdom. Why? Because, as Paul says, “evil lies close at hand.”

John Owen wrote an entire volume from that verse called, Sin and Temptation. He said,

“It is to be feared that very many have little knowledge of the main enemy that they carry about with them in their bosoms... Many men live in the dark to themselves all their days; whatever else they know they know not themselves. They know their outward estates, how rich they are, and the conditions of their bodies as to health and sickness they are careful to examine; but as to their inward man, and their principles as to God and eternity, they know little or nothing of themselves. Indeed few labour to grow wise in this matter, few study themselves as they ought, are acquainted with the evils of their own hearts as they ought; on which yet the whole course of their obedience, and consequently of their eternal condition, depends.”

Paul says, “I find a law/principle.” In other words, I discovered it. I see it. I feel it. I serve it. I must know it and fight against it. Paul knows about indwelling sin. He wants us to know, too. Knowing our truest, fiercest enemy will take great humility. Why? Because rather than sin being something we experience momentarily and occasionally from outside forces, it dwells in our heart. It’s close. It’s personal. We must seek and apply wisdom to know ourselves and where our enemy will exploit, abuse, and trip us us.

From the point of conversion and onward, the heart is a battlefield. No soldier goes into combat without sufficient knowledge of his enemy or their tactics. Neither does he charge into the fray without a winning strategy and sufficient weapons. As G.I. Joe reminds us, “knowing is half the battle.” But it’s not the entire formula. For that, we’ll dig into the rest of Romans 7.

Thank God the chapter doesn’t end with the threat of indwelling sin. Along with Paul’s cry of despair in verse 24, “Oh Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”, we find the cry of victory in verse 25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Know thy enemy, but more than that, know thy Savior!