July 29, 2015
Personal: Slow
Day. Not much done. Ironed pants. Heard from my wife of the many tasks she is performing.
Fought off feelings that come to me when she shares those things, which seems
like every day now. It’s her excuse for not messaging me more. I did listen to
an awesome message by John Piper on “Don’t Waste Your Seminary Life” or something to that effect. I thought it might at first deal with what to
do after Seminary for people like me, but it was better and more profound than
that. It was based on John 8, where Jesus
said the “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” I don’t
have time here to say much about what I learned. I need to watch it again and
take notes. All I will say is that the end of all my studying to know God is to
treasure Him. It is not in knowledge to give me an inflated ego. Also, I am to
live in such a way that my knowledge of God overflows into magnifying God so
others may see and know God.
Scripture: Ps
22:1-2
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
NIV
This is a sacred Psalm. Not that any other Psalm is
not. Yet because the Psalm begins with these words, “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?” we are immediately thrust into another time and place. On a
hill just outside of Jerusalem called Golgotha or Calvary, where our sinless
Savior cried out these same words. David cried out these words because he was
innocent of what he was accused of, yet attacked and rejected by his enemies. Our
Savior was innocent in all things yet:
He
was despised and rejected by men,
a
man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like
one from whom men hide their faces
he
was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa
53:3 NIV
As the “righteous” sufferer, David felt utterly
abandoned by God at the moment. So our Savior, suffering for our sins, felt the
Father’s wrath and experienced the sense of loss and abandonment that such
wrath brings. David’s cries for help were met only with silence. Our Lord’s cry
did not seem to be heard either. There was no “this is my Beloved Son” He heard
in the past. Only darkness and the jeering of the crowd and the weeping of His
followers. However, this is only the beginning—the cries for help, the
complaints about David’s enemies – will turn to complete trust in God his
deliverer. And our Savior will go even further and forgive His enemies and
commend His spirit to God His Father.
To Be Continued …
No comments:
Post a Comment