Well, I need to start off with a bit of a disclaimer. The purpose of this entry is not to cast disparagement on my ability to comprehend what someone is trying to communicate to me. However, it will explore the speed, or lack thereof, at which I am able to grasp things. I'm pretty quick on certain aspects of the realities of this world. For instance, if I touch a hot stove the thought of it being hot has not even registered as my hand is quickly repositioned to a cooler location. There is virtually no time at all that expires between the touch and the grasping of the reality that the object of my touching is very, very hot. On the other hand, some things, which are just as real, and just as hot, though not physically, are slow to be comprehended by the same system that brought us the cat-like response of the earlier situation.
A while back I began memorizing scripture. The second chapter I undertook to file away in the ol' steel trap was Isaiah 53. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed ....... Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried........but He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. There are a lot of wonderful thoughts and pictures that come to mind reading through the chapter and while trying to memorize I must have gone over each verse a hundred times or more. So the other night as I read back over the chapter trying to reinforce my memory a bit, it was a surprise to have a portion of one of the verses really hit me. For cryin' out loud, I'd only been over these words a few hundred times. You can't consider every word with any real depth when your goal is to memorize. Repetition is important, not contemplation. Well, when I read, "by His scourging we are healed" I immediately had to stop reading and I placed my hands over my face as my mind and spirit seemed to be operating on a deeper level than before. By His scourging, that would be the scourging that my sin has brought to bear on Him. By His scourging, we are healed. God turned around the darkness of sin and used it as a tool to heal us. The pain He endured took away sin's final victory in my life and healed my spirit. Somehow, this perfect, sinless man used Satan's own tool against him. God's shield of salvation dulled and rendered useless the devil's most powerful weapon. Our sin, directed at the Lamb of God, becomes useless and cannot have its usual effect because it was defeated by God's light. Our sin, when laid at the foot of the cross, cannot take our lives, it can only cause us pain here on earth and that pain is nothing compared to what we will experience in glory. There is a deep peace waiting in those words and I am still unwrapping yet another wonderful Christmas present from my heavenly Father. Hope you get what you've always wanted, too.
