The Worst
Read Matthew 27:45-50.
I always imagine the wind was cold, blowing on that barren hillside. I don't know why I imagine that; it's never really been cold in Jerusalem, no matter what time of year I've been there. But that's the image I have in my mind as I stare at the cross. And there, standing at the foot of those two timbers, I am, in my mind, witness to the ultimate unanswered prayer. Jesus prayed, as we read earlier, that this cup, this death, would be taken from him.
And God said no.
NO.
God said no to his one and only Son. God allowed the world to do its worst to Jesus.
And in the midst of the worst, God did his best. In the midst of the worst punishment the world could hand to Jesus, God the Father was somehow, mysteriously transforming the Son's suffering into salvation for the entire world—for all who ask, for anyone who comes.
The ultimate image of unanswered prayer becomes the ultimate witness that there is nothing—and I mean nothing—that God can't use and turn to good.
If God can use that, don't you think he can also use your circumstances? If God can bring such ultimate good out of the worst the world had to offer, don't you think God can bring some good out of whatever you're going through? If God has said "no" to your prayers, your petitions, your knocking on heaven's door, trust that God is yet bringing good out of it. A miracle out of a mess. A wonder that you may not even notice or may not even see. But never doubt that God is working. The proof is right there on the cross. Even in the forsakenness of the cross, the desolation of the crucifixion, God the Father was working.
And if he worked there, he can work here as well.
What's the worst thing you're going through right now? Where in your life do you feel abandoned by God? Turn it over to him and allow him to work in it, to shape you and to redeem the suffering by his grace.
He will, you know. He will. He always does.
I always imagine the wind was cold, blowing on that barren hillside. I don't know why I imagine that; it's never really been cold in Jerusalem, no matter what time of year I've been there. But that's the image I have in my mind as I stare at the cross. And there, standing at the foot of those two timbers, I am, in my mind, witness to the ultimate unanswered prayer. Jesus prayed, as we read earlier, that this cup, this death, would be taken from him.
And God said no.
NO.
God said no to his one and only Son. God allowed the world to do its worst to Jesus.
And in the midst of the worst, God did his best. In the midst of the worst punishment the world could hand to Jesus, God the Father was somehow, mysteriously transforming the Son's suffering into salvation for the entire world—for all who ask, for anyone who comes.
The ultimate image of unanswered prayer becomes the ultimate witness that there is nothing—and I mean nothing—that God can't use and turn to good.
If God can use that, don't you think he can also use your circumstances? If God can bring such ultimate good out of the worst the world had to offer, don't you think God can bring some good out of whatever you're going through? If God has said "no" to your prayers, your petitions, your knocking on heaven's door, trust that God is yet bringing good out of it. A miracle out of a mess. A wonder that you may not even notice or may not even see. But never doubt that God is working. The proof is right there on the cross. Even in the forsakenness of the cross, the desolation of the crucifixion, God the Father was working.
And if he worked there, he can work here as well.
What's the worst thing you're going through right now? Where in your life do you feel abandoned by God? Turn it over to him and allow him to work in it, to shape you and to redeem the suffering by his grace.
He will, you know. He will. He always does.
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