Perhaps the hardest time to trust God is when we are being attacked by those who we think do not have the truth on their side. Our human instinct is to rise up in defense of ourselves, to try to 'set straight' the people who argue as if they are right and you are wrong. There are many tactics that we often employ in defensiveness, but what if they are all wrong save one. What if defensiveness was as great of a sin as the wrong being committed against the person at that time?
Consider todays verse that gave me pause:
Mark 15:32, "Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him."
The context of the verse is Jesus at Golgotha. He has been already been falsely charged, assaulted, sleep deprived, man handled, taken to illegitimate courts, handed over to Rome as a common criminal, rejected by those who a week ago 'loved' him, scourged, humiliated and now is hanging on the cross.
Those who oppose Him think that they now have the upper hand, and so led by Satan they are 'going for the throat', attempting to take the last shreds of Jesus dignity away from Him in defeat. What they didn't know is that Jesus retains all power and authority that He ever had. As the hymn writer said, "He could have called 10000 angels." He could have done the very things that they suggested, and won the people with a display of power, but He denied that instinct, to reveal the truth in the face of their error, because He understood a greater plan was at work.
His suffering was necessary to achieve salvation and forgiveness. To defend himself would have won the people yet lost the prize. Thus there was no way that Jesus could defend himself and accomplish the mission that God had called Him to do. So in that moment, He forsook the ownership of himself, His life, His mission, and surrendered it all over to God in the same manner as He prayed in the garden, "Father not my will, but Yours be done."
His will was done, and we are all the beneficiaries of forgiveness and salvation, because Jesus choose not to defend Himself.
What of us, man or woman of God? Could the oppression we face be God's way of using us to achieve a greater glory that changes us and others lives? Should we too examine that God has a perfect plan for our lives and is capable of defending that plan, keeping it progressing to success (meeting His goals in His time?) Is God calling us to lose our ownership of ourselves, our will, hopes and even pride, to surrender to a plan that we often can not in the moment understand but what is promised to, "Achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all' (2 Cor 4:16).
He doesn't call us to self defense. He doesn't need us to self defend. His way often uses us in defenselessness but we are never defenseless. We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings. We can trust that 'daddy' will make all things right.
So in oppression (relax), and rest in a God who loves you.
Isaiah 35: 3-4
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Grace and peace...
Consider todays verse that gave me pause:
Mark 15:32, "Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him."
The context of the verse is Jesus at Golgotha. He has been already been falsely charged, assaulted, sleep deprived, man handled, taken to illegitimate courts, handed over to Rome as a common criminal, rejected by those who a week ago 'loved' him, scourged, humiliated and now is hanging on the cross.
Those who oppose Him think that they now have the upper hand, and so led by Satan they are 'going for the throat', attempting to take the last shreds of Jesus dignity away from Him in defeat. What they didn't know is that Jesus retains all power and authority that He ever had. As the hymn writer said, "He could have called 10000 angels." He could have done the very things that they suggested, and won the people with a display of power, but He denied that instinct, to reveal the truth in the face of their error, because He understood a greater plan was at work.
His suffering was necessary to achieve salvation and forgiveness. To defend himself would have won the people yet lost the prize. Thus there was no way that Jesus could defend himself and accomplish the mission that God had called Him to do. So in that moment, He forsook the ownership of himself, His life, His mission, and surrendered it all over to God in the same manner as He prayed in the garden, "Father not my will, but Yours be done."
His will was done, and we are all the beneficiaries of forgiveness and salvation, because Jesus choose not to defend Himself.
What of us, man or woman of God? Could the oppression we face be God's way of using us to achieve a greater glory that changes us and others lives? Should we too examine that God has a perfect plan for our lives and is capable of defending that plan, keeping it progressing to success (meeting His goals in His time?) Is God calling us to lose our ownership of ourselves, our will, hopes and even pride, to surrender to a plan that we often can not in the moment understand but what is promised to, "Achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all' (2 Cor 4:16).
He doesn't call us to self defense. He doesn't need us to self defend. His way often uses us in defenselessness but we are never defenseless. We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings. We can trust that 'daddy' will make all things right.
So in oppression (relax), and rest in a God who loves you.
Isaiah 35: 3-4
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Grace and peace...
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