Friday, April 4, 2014

See it: Read Isaiah 53:10-12

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

There are times when I find the truth of these verses beyond what I can bear. “It was the will of the Lord to crush him and to fill him with grief.”  Using only my human reasoning and perspective, this statement seems unintelligible to me. How could it possibly be the will of the Father to crush His only begotten Son? Surely, this makes absolutely no sense to any reasonable person. How do you feel when you read this?

 

Chew it: As our understanding of the plan of God deepens, we realize that our own human two-dimensional thinking is not going to be enough to get our arms around this; there is more at stake, namely the lives of billions of human beings. All three verses, 10, 11 and 12, communicate clearly to us that this sacrifice unleashes tremendous benefits to us human beings. What are those benefits? This one act of selfless love, whereby Jesus yielded His life for us on the cross, continues to communicate His great love to me. I come back to this cornerstone truth time and time again and without fail, my heart is always filled, sometimes with gratitude, sometimes with joy, sometimes with humility, other times with repentance. Never do I leave His presence without a sense of great awe for what He has done for me.

 

Do it:  It takes time and discipline and intentionality to cultivate this place in our souls of overflowing gratitude for what God has done for us. I encourage you to invest in this exercise throughout the day today.