Helpless: Desire Without Ability

I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.   Romans 7:15

The problem for this character is that he isn’t able to do what he wants, and that’s why we’re calling him Helpless. The big difference between Helpless and Hostile is that while Hostile hates God’s law, Helpless loves it: “I agree that the law is good” (Romans 7:16). That is something Hostile would never say. Helpless loves God’s law and wants to keep it: “I love God’s law with all my heart” (7:22).

Though Helpless wants to fulfill the law of God, he finds it beyond his power. Helpless is a mystery to himself: “I don’t really understand myself” (7:15). He ends up doing what he never intended.

We’ve met Helpless before in the Bible. When Moses announced the laws of God, the people said, “We will do everything the LORD has commanded” (Exodus 19:8), but they found it impossible to live up to their good intentions. When they got to Canaan, Joshua challenged them to choose whom they would serve. They said, “We . . . will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:18). Desire is one thing; ability is another.

The law is “unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature” (Romans 8:3). The law tells us what to do, but since we don’t have the power to do it, it leaves us helpless. And Helpless cries out, “What a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (7:24). God’s answer is Jesus Christ!

If you are helpless, God is saying, “Jesus Christ will deliver you. The Christian life is not about you keeping my law. It is about my power entering your soul, breaking the power that is ruling over you.” Come to Christ in faith, and tell him you cannot live the Christian life on your own. Tell him you need his Holy Spirit’s power so you will have the ability and the desire to live a new life.

For further reading, see Joshua 24