“He is despised and rejected of men; a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our grief's, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53: 3 – 6
King James Version
This morning I watched a very moving and
very sad family program on television. The parents had
to make a very difficult decision concerning their child.
Finally the mother said “We have to do what is best for our
child”. When I heard her say that my eyes filled with
tears because it felt like someone had plunged a knife in my
heart. I realized that God did not do what was best
for His child when He gave Him to become our Saviour; He did
what was best for us. What kind of love is this that a
Father would willingly give His Son to die for us?
This is a pure love. It is the unconditional, amazing
Agape love that God and Jesus have for us.
I have been thinking all afternoon about
the words to some of the songs that we sing and sad to say,
we don’t even think about the words we are singing.
It’s just like the passage of scripture in this devotional.
A lot of us can quote this passage and it has become so
familiar to us that we don’t even think about it any more or
grasp the pain and heartache in these verses.
We sing the song “All to Jesus I
surrender” but have we really surrendered everything or are
we holding something back from Him? “Praise God from
whom all blessings flow” but are we praising Him? Are
we praising Him all the time or only when He does something
for us? “Jesus is the sweetest name I know” so why do
we treat Him like we do? Why do we keep hurting Him by
our cruel words and actions to others? “At the cross,
at the cross where I first saw the light and the burdens of
my heart rolled away” yet we walk around with frowns instead
of smiles. “He leaded me, O blessed thought” but are
we following Him? A lot of times we don’t even include
Him in our daily activities so how can He be leading us?
It is time that we become broken hearted
over the way that Jesus was treated when He was here on
earth, and is still being treated today. Every thorn
in that crown on His precious head and every thorn in His
heart was for us. He endured the shame, agony and
torture because He loves us so much. He not only shed
tears for us; He shed His blood for us so that we may have a
way to be saved and assured of a home in Heaven with Him for
all eternity. May God forgive us for taking His love
for granted!
Joanne Lowe
joannelowe8@cox.net
March 6, 2007
