Heart to Heart
“God’s ways are not our ways,” says Isaiah 55:8. I resonate with the New Living Translation – “my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” So true! His thoughts are infinitely higher & deeper than mine.
We see this as we read the Gospels about how Jesus approached His mission to be obedient to death, even death on a Cross, in order to deal with our sin, once for all. Christ was a complete mismatch to what people expected the Messiah would do.
God allowed the “how” of His rescue plan to remain shrouded in mystery. But there was also the issue of God’s timetable. Several times in John’s Gospel, mention is made that it was “not yet Jesus’ time”. Christ’s own family members even came up with a plan on how to go public with His miracles, even though they themselves didn’t believe in Him (John 7:1-5). Jesus responded with a firm “NO.” He was devoted to follow God’s sovereign plan & timing. It was not until Jesus sat at the Passover meal with His disciples, (John 13:1) that He declared, “the hour has come…”
God’s sovereignty in the timing of Christ’s Passion which led to the Cross, teach us some vital life lessons. We learn that God is never late, that there’s purpose in His timing, and that even when we can’t see it, God is always working for our good and His glory. We can trust Him for these things, in our own life circumstance.
There’s another phrase in Jesus’ passion that has caught my attention. Multiple time, the apostle John says Jesus was “deeply troubled” in spirit. The word means “to be agitated” like choppy water being whipped up in a storm. When Jesus arrived in Bethany to respond to Martha & Mary’s pleas for Lazarus, Jesus felt “deeply agitated” in His spirit. The same language is used to describe Jesus’ emotional state when He stood before Lazarus’ tomb. Later, in John 13:21 Jesus had similar feelings of righteous anger when He announced one of His own disciples would betray Him.
This Easter, may we ponder long and hard, the price Jesus paid in order to cover our sins and to cancel the affront of our betrayal against God. The impact went far beyond the physical & emotional. Jesus’ spirit was deeply troubled, even as He yielded to the Father’s will that led to the Cross.
I’m so grateful Jesus chose to lay down His life on the Cross, so that we could be reconciled to God. I’m forever thankful that He did not treat me as my sins deserve, but instead laid down His life on the Cross, as the ultimate expression of love. May we choose to lay down our lives as a thank offering to Jesus, for His deep, deep love, that forever changed our eternal future.
Pressing On For His Glory (Phil.3:14),
Pastor Adriaan & Diana <><