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Key Bible Verse: Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion…" (Psalm 103:2-4, NIV).

Bonus Readings: Isaiah 44:22; Matthew 18:21-22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 8:12; 1 John 1:9

The Two Towers is the second installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. To save Middle Earth from the forces of evil, Frodo and Sam must take the ring of power to Mount Doom for destruction. The journey is long and perilous, and they find themselves traveling in circles in the Misty Mountains. Just as they are about to give in to frustration, they happen upon the most pitiful and wretched of creatures—Gollum. Gollum, the previous possessor of the evil ring, is a dirty, homely, malnourished loner. His years of ring ownership have resulted in his complete decay and an obsession with the ring.

Gollum agrees to help Sam and Frodo find their way to Mount Doom. Sam believes that Gollum only wants to get the ring back. As Sam, Frodo, and the pitiful Gollum walk along, Sam is perpetually rude to Gollum and at one point sneers: "Hey stinker, don't go getting too far ahead!" Frodo, who feels compassion toward Gollum, confronts Sam.

"Why do you do that—call him names and run him down all the time?"

"Because, that's what he is, Mr. Frodo. There's naught left in him but lies and deceit. It's the ring he wants. It's all he cares about."

Looking at Gollum, Frodo says, "You have no idea what it did to him. I have to help him, Sam."

"Why?"

"Because I have to believe he can come back."

This exchange causes mixed feelings in us. We agree with Sam that Gollum is full of lies and deceit, and yet we want to see him change. Frodo's interest in Gollum goes further. Frodo sees himself in Gollum's behavior. Frodo realizes that given time, he could become just like Gollum. He understands that he is not better than Gollum, just less affected by the evil ring since he hasn't held it as long.

Like Frodo, as we view those who have been consumed by sin, we should remember that we are not far from being consumed either. Psalm 103 says that God redeems our life from the pit. Like Gollum, we are all full of lies and deceit. We lie to God and we lie to ourselves. Until we face that as part of our nature, we mislead ourselves into thinking we are good. Gollum didn't truly understand what he'd become. He began accepting each lie until it pulled him further into degradation.

There's a place in the novel Lord of the Rings, from which the movie is taken, where the hobbit Pippin is standing at the gates of the city when it's about to be destroyed. In the distance Pippin hears the horns of the riders of Rohan who have come to rescue the city. Even though the king of Rohan rides to his death that day, the city is saved. We're told that for the rest of his life, Pippin could never hear a horn off in the distance without bursting into tears. Why? Because every time he heard a horn in the distance, it reawakened the memory of his salvation and the memory of the one who died for him.

We all need to be saved from our greatest enemy, our own sin-nature. And only the One who died for us can save us.

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