Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Psalm 22:6-10 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see Me mock Me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him." Yet you brought Me out of the womb; you made Me trust in You even at My mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon You; from My mother's womb You have been My God.
LENTEN CONSIDERATION: WILL THE LORD RESCUE ME?
I remember some very clear images growing up in the Midwest. When it rained hard, you not only saw it, you smelled it--worms! Yuck. Is that memory a little too graphic? Not as a description of what my Savior endured both physically and spiritually on the cross for me!
Those who stood before Jesus' cross reveal mankind's logic: God could rescue Jesus if He wanted to. God wasn't rescuing Him. Therefore, God obviously doesn't approve of Him.
This same reasoning sounds so often like my own! My Lord tells me to "Ask and it will be given to me, seek and I will find, knock and it will be opened to you," but I think, "Well, I have often asked and the Lord hasn't given! I have sought answers I didn't find! I have knocked at hopeful opportunities and the door didn't open! God must not be there!" Yet I ought to know better. Am I asking according to God's will in the first place?
Jesus teaches me to recall my Heavenly Father's helping hand throughout my own earthly life. He didn't need to ask the question, "Will the LORD Rescue Me?" He knew. His Father was faithful. He would be delivered from this veil of tears, from the suffering and agony of hanging on those nails, from enduring the guilty of the sins of the world. How horrible it would be if the Father had rescued Jesus there on the cross! How horrible it would have been if Jesus had made use of His divine power and come down from the cross--as His mockers taunted Him to do! Had Jesus gotten off that cross, His mission would not have been finished! Our glorious victory not won. Therefore, I might joyfully consider how the trials or suffering I go through today not only have a God intended victory for me, but also a way to glorify Him.
