Quiet Fire Devotional | When God Lets Go

The Downward Slope — When God Lets Go

"God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts… God gave them up to dishonorable passions… God gave them up to a debased mind." — Romans 1:24, 26, 28 (ESV)

A Crossing on the Ozark Highland Trail

Several years back, we were deep on the Ozark Highland Trail, far from paved roads and cell towers. The kind of terrain you feel in your chest. The trail bent down to a river crossing. Normally, you could hop from rock to rock — they were placed and reinforced so your foot wouldn’t slip.

But that day, the water was up — ice and snow melting from higher up the mountain. The current pushed fast. The rocks disappeared under it, and the “easy crossing” became anything but easy.

We had backpacks hoisted over our heads. Step, brace, feel for the next rock under the rushing water. And here’s the thing — you could cross without stepping on those rocks… but the river would take you wherever it wanted, not where the trail was. Not to the other side.

Romans 1 is Paul describing people — even whole cultures — that choose the current over the rocks. And then God, after being resisted again and again, lets them go. That phrase… “God gave them up.” Three times. Each time, the current grows stronger.

Stage One — Desire Takes the Throne (Romans 1:24)

We like to pretend desire is neutral. It isn’t. God made human longing to be like those reinforced rocks — firm places that guide the crossing. Sin loves to rearrange them or tell you they don’t matter.

The first “giving over” happens when a person decides that what they want outranks what God has said. “The lusts of their hearts” take the lead. It’s quiet at first. Feels like control. Feels like freedom.

Samson knew that feeling. God gave him strength to save Israel, but he used it to chase women who had no interest in God’s covenant (Judges 14–16). Each step felt like his choice. It was — but each choice also took him deeper into the current.

Today it looks like Hebrews 13:4 being dismissed as irrelevant. Relationships orbiting personal fulfillment instead of covenant. “Follow your heart” replacing “deny yourself.”Stage One is where the throne changes hands. Desire is now in charge.

Stage Two — Natural Order Rejected (Romans 1:26)

Once desire rules, identity follows. Not just what I want — but who I say I am.

Paul says they “exchanged” natural relations for what is contrary to nature. That word exchange means they didn’t just stumble — they made a trade. God’s creation design (Genesis 1:27) was pushed out to make room for self-definition.

Israel did this under Ahab and Jezebel — Baal worship became public policy, complete with sexual rites God called abominations (1 Kings 16–18). What had been hidden now marched down the street.

We see the same today:

• Gender and sexuality redefined apart from God’s blueprint.

• Sin celebrated openly, virtue whispered in back rooms.

• Social shame placed on righteousness instead of sin.

Stage Two doesn’t just change behavior — it rewrites reality. And a culture that lives here must punish dissent to keep the current flowing.

Stage Three — Moral Reasoning Broken (Romans 1:28)

This is where the final rock is abandoned and the current takes you.

God “gave them up to a debased mind.” A mind that can no longer process truth rightly. It’s not ignorance — it’s malfunction. Isaiah saw it: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

At this stage, sin becomes virtue and truth is labeled as harm. Pharaoh lived here — ten plagues in and still convinced he was right to keep Israel enslaved. Modern culture lives here when even obvious wrong is justified with a straight face.

When the mind is debased, darkness and light swap labels, and the swap feels like progress.

The Pattern of Descent

Paul’s sequence is exact:

1. Desire → Identity → Mindset — What I want, who I think I am, how I see the world.

2. Private → Public → Celebrated — Hidden indulgence, open practice, enforced applause.

3. Resist Truth → Replace Truth → Redefine Truth — Each stage a deeper trade.

The most chilling part? The slope feels like an ascent to those on it.

The Mirror We Avoid

Paul’s follow-up in Romans 2:1–4 is a mirror — “You have no excuse.”He’s saying this isn’t just “their” problem. It’s the human problem. The same current flows through every heart.

We can call out the current in culture and yet quietly wade into it ourselves. The safeguard is not outrage; it’s renewal — Romans 12:2’s call to constant, humble, Scripture-fed transformation.

The Door with Three Locks

Your life is a front door with three locks:

• Desire — Guard it, and the door holds. Give it to lust or greed, and the first lock turns.

• Identity — Name yourself by those desires, and the second lock turns.

• Mindset — Shape your thinking around those desires and identity, and the last lock clicks.

When Paul says “God gave them up,” it’s like God steps back and lets all three locks turn from the inside. The current is free to pour in.

Where the Gospel Meets the Current

If Romans 1 stopped here, there’d be no hope. But the gospel is for people already chest-deep in the water.

• Desire can be purified — “Delight yourself in the LORD…” (Psalm 37:4)

• Identity restored — “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17)

• Mindset renewed — “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16)

God doesn’t just shout from the far bank. He steps into the current, lifts you onto the rocks again, and steadies you.

Walking Back to the Trail

Discipleship steps to reverse the slope:

1. Audit your desires — Ask: What do I want when no one is watching? Pray Psalm 139:23–24 honestly.

2. Rehearse your identity — Let Galatians 2:20 redefine your “I am” statements.

3. Renew your mind daily — Scripture intake is the reinforced rock under your foot. Miss it, and the current will feel stronger.

Back to the Crossing

On that day in the Ozarks, we made it across. Step, brace, feel for the rock. Keep the weight balanced. The river wanted to take us somewhere else, but those rocks kept us on the trail.

And that’s grace. If you’ve been carried downstream, God can still set your feet on solid ground. The rocks are still there. The trail is still there. The way forward hasn’t been washed away.

Carry this question: Am I stepping on the rocks God has set, or trusting myself to stand in the current?