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Inner thoughtsTuesday, March 18, 2008
Isaiah 49:1-6 Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God ... And I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!
I will make you a light to the nations, he says, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
He knows he'll be captured, mocked and killed. He knows he'll be betrayed by those he loves. He knows nothing will change this. Does he feel tired? Does he question the value of his life and work and words? I think ... how could he? ... but then I read these words: "toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength ..." And I wonder. As important as emotions are to me - made in God's image - I think they are a big part of God's makeup as well. But there's a difference. Robert McGee, author of The Search for Significance, says, "I think wrong thoughts, and my emotions follow them. God thinks right thoughts, so his emotions are right too." Jesus challenged and defeated Satan over and over while he lived on earth. He did not believe the lies. He was not caught in a web of wrong thoughts and emotions and actions. But death is a phenomenon of life on earth. The man Jesus was born, and he would die, accompanied by sadness and pain. Walking like the rest of us, he too had to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, not fly over it. All day long I am blessed by you, Lord, and in all my thoughts and emotions, wrong and right, thank you for being with me. |
Jesus read these words many times as a boy. Perhaps he knew then they were written about him. And now, as day inexorably follows night into the Passover Feast, Jesus knows more.