On the third day of getting a little more intentional with my body, and with my writing.
I didn’t say this but on the first day, I was feeling easily lightheaded and dizzy. Last night (the night of day 2, that is) I had trouble sleeping, but the fact of the matter is I know I slept. This is way better compared to the first days of this month, when we were transitioning between June and July… when I had no idea if I got any rest.
Now that I think about it, yes, I was definitely a basketcase back then – For the first time after a very long time I had my emotions and my thoughts take some sort of control over my body, and not in a nice way.
Today, I believe I have more of my entire being attuned to an absolute Truth – that God’s perfect, everlasting love casts out all fear. And, right, I shared this last Sunday: Healing of the body begins with the healing of the mind, and healing of the mind begins with healing of the spirit. For us in the body of Christ, I strongly believe that healing of the spirit (as mystical or as gnostic as it sounds) just means allowing the conviction of the Holy Spirit – simplifying further, healing of our spirit is flowing with the Spirit.
As I’ve been writing as of late, things haven’t necessarily been great – in fact, I believe I’ve hit a low I haven’t been in before, or at least in a very long time. But, thank God, things have changed between now and the last time I felt such trepidation; trusting in the Lord does THAT much to you.
It’s not that I trusted in the Lord MORE, as if to place the credit on me – it’s just that it was Christ who was constantly, absolutely faithful throughout all this time… and now, oddly enough, there’s less noise, and my eyes are opened even wider to this complete faithfulness.
With all that said, it’s but natural to just give praise and thanks to the Lord. Indeed,
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
Gracious God of the heavens, Lord and King over all things seen and unseen, Creator of both Jew and Gentile – You are good, You are glorious; You are powerful and mighty, You are all-knowing and all-seeing, You are infinitely powerful and eternally wise;
We thank You, God! For not only ARE You God, but You are our Father, who loves us with a perfect, everlasting Love.
Thank You, Father, for another day; For every breath that I take and every beat of my heart by Your great grace; Thank You, Father, for every thought, word and action done in Your absolute, full, complete and forever presence in us and around us.
Thank You, Father, for the well-being of those within our influence – family, friends, acquaintances and those who call themselves our enemies. Thank You, Father, for Your Holy Spirit, who convicts one and all, every single moment, of sin, righteousness and judgment – that all would see Your glory and goodness in all creation, gently but firmly leading all to repentance, for Your will to be done on earth as in heaven.
Thank You, Father, for Your movement, Your ministering to each and every one of us. Our trust continues to be on You, and we are thankful because according to Your Word, we shall continue to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Indeed, our trust is in the Lord… but remember, as we place our trust in God as our Father, we are always going to go back to recognizing how it all began for us – Christ died and rose again, we believed, and were born again.
Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 22
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.
Oh, give thanks to God – for generations before the crucifixion of Christ, David prophesied it by way of this composition.
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
Sure, it’s common practice for us to reflect on Christ’s ‘Seven Last Words’ during Holy Week… But, here, David gives us a picture of all that may have been going through our Savior’s mind… in this Psalm, and in at least these 18 verses.
Or… well, now after I quickly went through the Seven Last Words, I see all of this, the entire Psalm, to elaborate more on the ‘Fourth’ set of Christ’s last words on the cross… and, well, they’re in the first verse: ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?‘
19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
20 Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog.
21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.
22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard.
25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever!
27 All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s, And He rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.
You’ll see that there’s so much more to what Christ said, a message deeper than the mere words He mentioned.
Behold, the plight of the One who became sin – and it all begins with One whom He called Father, now calling Him ‘God’… because, of all things happening to Him, the first and deepest impact of sin is being forsaken by the Creator.
Thousands of years earlier, Adam and Eve were warned not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; As soon as they ate, they were aware of their nakedness; no longer clothed in right-standing with the Father, they were forsaken by God… they surely died.
By sin forsaken by God… and David gives us an idea of Christ’s plight, and our sorry state in sin.
In sin and through fear and condemnation, we see God as distant – in fact, so distant that we think that He does not hear us.
We didn’t just see God as distant, but we saw ourselves as hopeless – as worms, reproached by men; More attuned to their reproach and their ridicule, less focused on what power we had (if any power was even seen), more anxious of the number of those who declare themselves our enemies, more fearful of their teeth, more afraid of their roars.
Imagine the Son of God in such pathetic circumstances – oh, and what condemnation sin brought us under, to the point that the stress of our focus impacts us down to our already battered bodies! The Lamb of God, beaten and whipped to the point where His bones were exposed…
But, oh, praise Him, for through this Psalm we see how possible it was for Christ, still to be thinking about us, as He endured being sin, paying its wages and draining its cup to the dregs!
He keeps it plain – through all this, Lord, my trust is in You; Through all this, Lord, In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
The call is for one and all of humanity, Jew and Gentile, believer and non-believer – through all times and iterations of the Holy Spirit’s personal conviction in each and every one of us, oh, the call of Christ remains:
Now is the day of salvation! You believe in God, believe also in Me, and you shall be saved, you and your household!
Indeed, for me personally, I am reminded – things may be bad, things may be at an all-time low… but Christ, who was at the lowest of the lows, STILL entrusted all to God.
The crucified Christ entrusted His Spirit to God, and rose from the dead, once for all, for all of us.
Through His finished work, we place our trust in Him, and we shall not be put to shame.
We believe in Him, and we are saved, ourselves, and our household.
Oh, thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit.
Adam and Eve disobeyed, and we surely died – separated from God, dying in spirit, becoming futile in mind, and deteriorating in body.
By Christ’s obedience we have eternal life – reconciled to the Father, transformed in the body by the renewing of the mind, filled with the Holy Spirit.
All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate, fall!
Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!
Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!
Be exalted in all the earth, and be praised across the heavens! Oh, give praise and thanks in the congregations, sing a new song to the Lord! Proclaim His glory, testify of His goodness!
The Lord continue to bless us through the rest of the week.
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