The Lord Laid on Him…
“And the Lord laid on Him, the iniquity of them all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Do you ever feel like something has just been LAID upon your life?
Maybe you quantify it as a lesson, a trial—even suffering.
Maybe you were corrected and it wounded you deeply.
Whether heaviness has been laid upon your mind, giving mental turmoil,
or upon your heart, bringing emotions that are beyond comprehension
—even if the trial has come upon your circumstances…
…there is a clear exhortation from Scripture NOT TO GIVE UP. We do not suffer in vain.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4, emphasis added).
(…HIGHLY recommend reading the whole chapter. One of my favorite chapters in the whole bible—simply exquisite!).
This idea that the Lord lays on Himself the pain, the sins, the separation, the anguish…the iniquity (immoral or grossly unfair behavior)—perhaps the sins of our parents and grandparents before us that feel so wholly unconnected from our own lives and choices: could this be too good to be true?! Jesus takes away the suffering of the world? If Jesus takes the suffering upon Himself, why does it seem to remain so close to our lives?
Jesus also said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
He also said, “...take up my cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
This is a lot to take in.
The idea that strikes me from this string of ideas is that, indeed, even the Holy Spirit Himself, may allow us many such trials…to follow in the way of Jesus.
Maybe the idea of being “empowered by the Holy Spirit” is different than we think. Maybe it means somehow that we go into the battles of this life with a different paradigm.
Perhaps we go into the battles of life, however big or small, knowing that there IS a victory somewhere down the line, even if it is not completed yet. After all, this same man that died and “laid on Him the iniquity of us all”—who bore our suffering: He conquered death and ROSE from the dead…
…but not until the third day.
There was an in-between. There was a funeral. There was a trial. There was a death before rebirth could occur.
A tree’s seed drops, dies, and is buried, before it bears new fruit.
Perhaps whatever is being laid upon your life today or this week, however excruciating, is creating new life. Perhaps the wine press that is pressing and pressing you is indeed making new wine.
New wine of joy.
New wine for the subsequent parties that will ensue.
Can we “bind together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:20), as the Scriptures exhorts, to remember that these “light and momentary troubles” are producing for us a VICTORY? May the Holy Spirit grant us a deeper knowing of WHAT the victory actually is.
Maybe the victory is not what we pictured.
May we see its beauty—its fullness.
May we see as He sees.
His vision is infinitely better, more fun, and cheer-ier than we could ever imagine.
Be filled with hope today…the kind of hope that John calls: the hope that cleanses us (1 John 3:3).
The Hope that washes away every tear…
every memory that needs to be forgotten…
in order to be able to carry on.
Be empowered this day!
We do not suffer in vain…we know that this is not the end.
This is not the end.
