Devotion: Monday May 19 2014 Topic: The Cross shows God understands you! If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard people say they don’t think that God understands them, or cannot empathise with difficult situations, I’d be pretty wealthy by now. I even hear experienced believers say this from time to time! When we hit a rough patch, it can sometimes be hard to see God working in our circumstances. He can often be silent, even though we tend to pray, worship and cry out more in bad times than in good. We have God’s will on the one hand, and our desires in another; it’s only when your desires fit God’s plans that they can take shape! The important thing to remember is that God really does understand you, and two specific elements illustrate this. Firstly, Genesis 1:27 tells us that humans were created in God’s image – this points to the fact that, being our author as well as our finisher, he knows more about us physically, emotionally and spiritually than we ever could! Secondly, God has already empathised with the ‘human condition’ more than any person, or any other religion for that matter, could ever demonstrate. This is because, when he sent Jesus into the world, God knew that by placing all our sin and iniquity, trials and temptations on to a man would demonstrate that he doesn’t just know how tough life can be at times – he has lived it himself. Jesus was sent to bridge the gap between God and man. In John 10:9, Jesus describes himself as being a gate through which people can walk in order to get to the Father and receive eternal life. Furthermore, in John 14:6, Jesus says that he is “the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” The British evangelist Barry Woodward often describes Jesus as being ‘God with skin on’. And this is what Jesus was. The Bible shows us that Jesus was fully human – he wept at the tomb of Lazarus and sweat blood at the prospect of his crucifixion; and he was fully divine – John 1:1 describes Jesus as ‘the Word’ and advises that ‘the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. By being born human, God came down to our level. He understood that he needed to make a way because, as hundreds of years of Israelite history teaches us, we humans could not adequately keep all of his laws and precepts. Jesus was born to serve and to show that God ‘gets us’. The death of Jesus goes to show that God understood that we could not fully get on top of sin without a sacrifice. God being God, be could quite easily have found some other manner of breaking the power of sin; but the fact that he put all of our iniquity on to a man demonstrates that he comprehends our situation far greater than we could ever know. In doing so, Jesus stepped right down into our shoes – what a ‘come down’ for Almighty God to transcend to Earth in human form! Despite being far bigger, far wider, much loftier and so much greater than anything we could ever imagine, he chose to humble himself to come and show us the way, to make a way and to pave the way right back to an everlasting relationship with our Abba Father. In doing so, the curse of sin and death was destroyed for all eternity. This does not mean that it does not hold significance for us but rather that it does not need to be an impediment in our lives. Sin does not need to hold you any longer because it has already been punished. Fear does not need to keep you captive because the fear of the Lord cures all other fears. Feelings of inadequacy and comparison with others are futile endeavours and should cease right now – they are not of God and have no part in our lives! So next time you say, “it’s not fair” or hear someone else utter the same, try asking the following questions: Was it fair that Jesus was tried twice for the same crime, acquitted on both occasions and still crucified due to the demands of a baying mob? Of course it wasn’t. Was it fair that he was treated with disdain, publicly humiliated, flogged and beaten - despite his innocence? Of course not. Was it right that he was crucified and sacrificed his own life to give countless second chances to people that even didn’t deserve it? No! But despite being the victim of the biggest injustice in history, was it right that he took our sins upon himself to fulfil his own Father’s will? Thankfully, yes! I believe this demonstrates that Jesus suffered all of the bad things that we could possibly go through in our lives. And yet he did it willingly - because it fulfilled God’s purpose for him. God is adequate for all circumstances and seasons of life, and I hope this demonstrates that he understands you far better than you could ever know. My prayer for you all today is that you will view Jesus’ sacrifice ever clearer and recognise at an even deeper level that God understands when you go through hard times and dry seasons. After all, he’s been there too.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 05:38:11 +0000
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