Thursday, February 21, 2008
Psalm 22:9-10 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God.
CRY OF HOPE
Children are often a strange mixture of completely irrational fears on the one hand and total oblivion to many of the dangers in which they put themselves on the other. The same child will shriek in misery if the light is turned off at night and yet climb trees, rock cliffs, playground sets, jump from housetops, and do many other wild and crazy stunts believing himself to be completely unbreakable. This is completely irrational. The dark neither can nor will hurt them in any way and yet it terrifies them. A forty foot rock cliff face is however a play toy of which they never consider the dangers. Even as adults, many of us have such irrational fears -- being afraid of mice or spiders, while zooming along a freeway at 80 mph within feet of other similar objects doesn't phase us a bit.
Our Savior, however, displays in this Psalm the exact opposite of irrational fear, He displays complete and total trust, even when to all appearances there was no reason for it. Remember these words of our Savior today are in response to the cries and jeers of men. They taunted Him, "Trust in the Lord and let us see if He will deliver You." And His response is: "Yes amen, Father I trust in You. He will deliver Me although it be in His time."
The complete and total culmination of everything that Christ did for you and me is seen here in these moments on the cross. It was not just the culmination of His suffering in our place. It was also the culmination of His perfect fulfilling of the Law of God in our place, and the culmination, or rather the depths, of His being tempted -- during which temptation He kept perfectly the first commandment, and trusted the Father above all things.
