What Is Our Problem?

The sin that separates us from God is our deepest and most fundamental problem. Government is not the problem. Our spouse and children are not the problem. Our physical bodies are not the problem. Sin. That’s our deep problem. Our strong tendency to wander from God and rebel against His Word is the essence of our trouble. Our sin separates us from God, and there’s no worse fate in the whole universe than being apart from Him.

When we sin, we alienate ourselves from God and forfeit the life that only exists in Him. When Isaiah says, “your sins have hidden His face from you,” he means that our sins create a giant gulf keeping us from the blessing of unity with God. The light of His favor does not fall upon us, only the darkness of judgment. Our prayers do not receive answers, only silence. And, when we are separated from God, we are also separated from one another.

Our root problem also reveals our biggest need—reconciliation to God. If our problem is sin and separation from God, then the solution is being restored to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. His blood covers our iniquities. He bridges the gulf our sins created. He brings us to God (1 Peter 3:18). By faith in Him we are reconciled to God.

Once reconciled to God through Christ, we are also reconciled to one another. The solution to the conflicts, separations, and distresses in our relationships is the gospel. Christ “is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation … that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Ephesians 2:14, 16).