Jesus Paid It All

What a beautiful day to reflect on the price Jesus the Christ paid for us.

The sun came out, I was able to take my first short exploratory hike of our property this season. The work the must be done to clean up after the December ice storm is breathtaking, but, climbing over and around all the fallen trees and branches and skirting the mud with my bro was a lot of fun! I would really like to take one area in the middle of the property, clear it myself and make it a little haven, and plant some berry bushes, too. Really, though, the trails should be cleared first and that could a lot of man-hours, so, we shall see!

…It certainly is breathtaking to think of my heart as this rugged and broken landscape that God clears, and repairs. What obstacles do we put up that Jesus continually pushes through to reach us where we are most vulnerable? Some of the storms in our life forever change us, but God wills to remake us into a thing of beauty–open and free, where blossoms of life spring forth and overflow with gratitude and a desire to share what He has done for us.

The sun is setting now and I’ve just finished reading a book. I’ve been reading a lot lately. It’s amazing what perspective a story can give, fiction or non. Jesus gave us many stories in parables to teach us lessons, they can be quite powerful. The story I read left me unusually lonely, but full of promise and meaning for my life. God fills us, and yet leaves us craving to know Him more. It really is amazing. Without Him we will always be lonely and unfulfilled. Without Him we will never find healing, or the comfort of the balm in Gilead.

He just loves us so much. It can be hard to fathom, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak! He paid it all. He paid it all, was willing to go to the ends of the earth for us, to hell and back, and seeks us still. Who would do that but a loving God? Thank you, Lord.

 

Isaiah 53 KJV

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.