Doing and Not Doing

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!

- Romans 7:15-25 (NIV)

Whenever I think about the things I have done which I should not have done, and the things I have not done which I should have done, I have to remind myself that God is in control, and He is both sovereign and good. Everything that He allows ordains to happen (and not happen) is for His glory and our good, whether we realise it or not. One day I will understand.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." - Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV)

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." - Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)