David Bahn – Reflections

I recall an encounter with a man who rented a room at my parents’ motel, stayed two or three nights, and went on a drunken bender. We finally learned what he was doing, and did our best to intervene and help him sober up. One part of that was to refuse to connect him to the taxi company when he would try to call through the motel switchboard to have his liquor delivered to his room.

I was in college at the time, and two things stick out in my mind about that encounter. First of all I recall the smell when we entered his room. The smell of alcohol permeated the room. Sickly sweet and pungent it hit us the moment we opened the door.

I recall, also, praying with him during this down time. He had hit bottom. We had pulled the plug on any further alcohol deliveries and I was by his bedside. As I prayed he wept. He was so very full of remorse. “I prayed to God. I prayed for help,” he sobbed. And I prayed for him as well. It was a real life and death time for him. He desperately needed God’s help.

When the binge was over he had showered, shaved and gotten dressed. He wore a suit and tie, drove his 1958 Buick past me as he left, and said, “I clean up pretty good, don’t I?” I can’t see anyone’s heart, but his comment and demeanor sure indicated to me this sorrow was not the kind that leads to life. It seems as though he had been sorry to be so miserable.

He never came back to the motel, but I’m not confident that he stayed sober.

This is the story of Israel. They have it good, become complacent, fall into apostasy, become miserable because of God’s judgment, and cry out to him for mercy and help. God delivers them from their troubles. But they repeat the cycle again and again.

Our cycle of sin, sorrow, repentance, and restoration may not be as dramatic, but we all have one to tell. When we are restored, we too easily fall back into the pit because we forget how bad it was while we were there.

Thankfully God is gracious and merciful, full of steadfast love and kindness. Thankfully we have One who did not succumb to sin, and who suffered in our place. We claim his righteousness. I think of John’s words, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous” (1 John 2:1). Christ steps in where we fall short. Oh how we need this Advocate! May he lead us not into temptation and deliver us from all evil!