Line upon line and precept upon precept

One of the teachings of twelve-step program, is that recovery is a life long journey. So when you have worked your way through the steps, you will need to sharpen the saw, in as it were, and start again. The first time, in the very first step, an alcoholic for example, needs to come out of denial that the drinking is a problem. But if he works the steps after he has attained sobriety, he will discover that alcohol is not his only problem. There are things that are much deeper about which he is also in denial. In other words we need to keep working the steps even after we have gotten victory over our primary difficulty. I have often thought that if the Lord were to reveal all of our faults at the same time we would likely die of shame. But He is gracious, and sometimes denial for a while, about the deeper things, can be a protection. Here’s the thing, if you enter recovery at say thirty five, you have had thirty five years of hurts, habits and hangups to overcome. And you will not get over these things in a ten or twelve week program.

The Scripture puts it this way, it is line upon line, precept upon precept here a little there a little (Isaiah 28:10). No instant fix, in fact this is a two-way street. In our thirty five year hypothetical example, he has been thirty five years of here a little there a little going backwards (well sometimes going backwards quite fast). In recovery we only need to deal with the things that the Lord puts in front of us. In other words to go forward line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept. To put this a slightly different way, recovery is a lifelong process. We will never fully arrive until that day when we meet Him face-to-face. On that day we will be changed, and we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). And seeing Him as He is in all His glory and beauty, will invoke in us an intense desire to be like Him and He will change us. Hallelujah!

One of the things about the fellowship in a twelve-step program, is knowing that we are all the same. So working the step where we need to extend forgiveness to others becomes easier, because we understand “There but for the grace of God go I.” We start to understand the things that tripped us up, the difficult circumstance that sent us into a tailspin. And we eventually come to see that we added to our problems, by reacting in a wrong way to the wrong done. Coming to terms with the need to forgive others is, of course, a process, and we need to learn to extend the grace and patience to others. And sometimes, since I am the one I might find the hardest to forgive, I need extend the same grace and patience to myself, to stop beating myself up, and to stop undermining myself worth by my own negative words.

Father, I want to thank You for Your gentle, patient, loving transforming power that is at work in us. We are always so much in a rush wanting to get it all over with. But You Lord are far more interested in the relationship we develop with You as we stick to the course. Thank You again this morning for Your continuing work and its sure conclusion. In Jesus Name Amen