Scrupulosity and Letting God Be God

Here is one of the most important statements you can preach to yourself each day: “I am not God.” It’s so basic and obvious that it may seem strange for us to remind ourselves of this reality. But our hearts can easily drift toward trying to exalt ourselves to the place of God. Even though this is a losing battle, in our sin, we act as if it can happen. We can’t actually exercise ultimate authority over our lives, but, functionally, we act like we’re ruling our own kingdom. We aren’t actually all-powerful, but, functionally, we act like we can bear our own burdens. The same can be said of God’s attribute of omniscience. At times, we act as if we should be all-knowing. This is especially true for individuals who struggle with what is called Scrupulosity or Religious OCD.

In a previous post on this site, I explained that one of the traits of Scrupulosity is a demand for certainty. Many scrupulous people find it intolerable to be in the dark when it comes to their personal sin, motives, and the potential for committing transgressions that disturb them. Common to their thinking are questions such as,

“Did I sin in that way and I just don’t know it?”
“Was my motive sinful when I spoke those words?”
“Am I the kind of person who would commit that kind of sin?”
“If I put myself in that context, am I likely to sin in this way?”

This inordinate desire for answers leads scrupulous people to engage in a frantic heart-inspection that sends them deeper inside themselves and farther away from Christ. They often feel petrified by not knowing the nitty-gritty details of the sin within them.

What are they to do, then? As their minds swirl with questions and there seems no way to get answers, how do they move forward? My friend, Jason Kruis (a fellow contributor to this website), once gave me some counsel when I was in the throes of scrupulous thinking that proved to be a lifeline. The counsel was based on James 4:17: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” As a practical application of this verse Jason told me, “There is usually one thing that is clear, one thing that you know God's Word would have you do...do that instead of worrying about the ten other details that are unclear.” With these wise words, Jason was speaking to me about the way I can feel crippled from doing anything by looking harder at myself in bouts of scrupulous fear. In those moments, I need to let God be all-knowing, and then, concentrate on being faithful. That’s the goal of the Christian life after all, not omniscience. 

With this in mind, if there is a moment of temptation toward frantic heart-inspection at work, the scrupulous person can remind himself that God wants him to be a good steward of his employer’s time and focus on doing the job he is being paid to do. If there is a descent into a demand for certainty at home, the scrupulous person can remind herself of the responsibility she has to her husband and children and set her feet to loving them practically. Doing these things instead of allowing oneself to be morbidly introspective is an act of faith, and the beautiful benefit of choosing faith over our feelings is joy and peace. In Romans 15:13, Paul says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” This is ironic because joy and peace is what scrupulous people are seeking in their demand for certainty. We know, however, that this will only have the opposite effect, because focusing on self and trusting self never leads to the benefit of the soul. The blessed soul is the soul that focuses on the Lord and trusts the Lord. That is, the soul that lets God be God.