Psychologists, substance abuse counselors, and social workers have a last-ditch strategy when helping someone out of destructive behaviors seems to have hit a brick wall. It’s called an intervention. Friends and family members of the abuser all show up at the same time, surround him or her, and pile their testimonies and observations one upon the other to overwhelm the person’s lies, dodges, and excuses. Interventions often work, because people who have made wrongdoing habitual can’t break out on their own. They need an external energy source to blast them out of their ruts.

That’s true of habitual spiritual sinfulness too. Jeremiah realized with shame and sadness that his nation was so far gone it couldn’t change course on its own. Nothing less than a divine intervention would do, and he prayed for God’s mercy: “Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you” (Jeremiah 14:7).

Maybe your efforts to get through to an alcoholic or drug abuser in your own circle of friends or family has stalled. Maybe you feel helpless to change your own destructive choices. Call on the Lord, not because of your own worthiness but for the sake of the Lord’s own name and reputation. Be honest with him; accept responsibility; cry out not for a reward you think you deserve but for mercy that you have not deserved.

Lord, do something!