Have you received The Messiah?
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. Surely he took up our infirmities and he carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:3-4 New International Version
THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
The prophet Isaiah spoke of what Jesus would become and do for us many many years before He actually did it. Jesus was everything that God was and yet He became as a man (He laid aside His Deity) to help us, to become our example of how to live before God. The prophet Isaiah said we didn’t even notice what He did for us. It was as if we did care what He did. His own people even rejected Him and then had Him crucified. They just assumed He deserved it, and so they did not even repent of their deeds. Their Messiah came to them in answer to their prayers, but they saw Him not because their hearts were hard, their eyes were blind, and their ears didn’t hear what He had to say to them. And so then they murdered Him. But there was something about that sacrificial story that finally grabs our hearts and calls us home and we find in Him not only a Savior, but first a Lord, then a Healer, a Deliverer, a Friend, and a Servant and finally He is our Savior.
MY PRAYER…
Almighty Father, Your plan to redeem me takes my breath away. It suspends me in complete awe. You took the most highly prized possession in heaven and sacrificed Him for me. How and why You chose to take Your precious Son and expose Him to such public disgrace and humiliation I will never comprehend. But this I do know: You love me with an everlasting love, a love that goes beyond my comprehension. I pledge to You that I will serve You with all of my body, mind, soul, and my strength in thanks for His great sacrifice. Father, take me and use me for Your Glory. Lord make the changes in me that are necessary for me to become a vessel that You can use for Your glory. Through Jesus name, I pray.
Amen
