Four A.M.
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:13 and Romans 8:1–5
Series: Comments on Galatians
Jim Nestingen once said that “four o’clock in the morning is when the flesh attacks.” He meant that our minds rehearse or run over and over all those disappointments in ourselves. I wish I hadn’t done that or I wish I had said that. Or worse, in those dark hours when sleep will not come, we remember our sins, and the memories will not let us go back to sleep. No wonder David said, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions…” (Psalm 25:7). It is as if he were adding: because I sure can remember them. It must be four AM!
David knew something more than his past. He knew that the law was not going to save him, and that being more devout would not accomplish it either. That is why, in the throes of remembering his sins, all he could do was ask God to remember him according to his faithful love and mercy. This is why the Father sent his Son. In order to be justly merciful, someone had to pay the price that sinners cannot pay.
The next time four AM rolls around for you, set your mind on the Spirit who is at work in you to give you peace by the Word’s reminder you that you are baptized into Christ and bound for resurrection, that the forces of sin and death have been conquered — not by you but by your Savior.
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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