Cross

God Gently Stooped Down – In Verse

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments

I shared a couple of days ago on the topic of God stooping down and it seemed to not only strike a chord with some of my readers, – Thanks guys for responding and commenting. But that phrase “God stooped down” resonated over and over in my heart. I could hear it at night as I lay in bed and in the morning again it rolled over and over in my thoughts as I went about my chores. I hope you will like the little verse I wrote today that shares as best as I am able the echoes in my heart.

Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? Psalm 113:5-6, NIV

On the sixth day in morning the Lord God stooped down
Scooped clay from the earth to make man from the ground
He bent down lower still to breathe life into him
Then smiled to see man’s first day begin

As they walked through the garden God showed him the trees
The elephants, zebras and mountains and seas
But with all that God made Adam still was alone
So God gently bent down to form Eve from his bones

But when they saw fruit that God said not to take
They ignored His command and death was awake
Yet God wasn’t finished - He did not walk away
He just waited and watched till His chosen day

When at Bethlehem’s stable He gently stooped down
And entered our world in the dark of that town
Till on a hill and a cross God stooped lower still
Took the nails and the thorns so we could be healed

Then sadly His friends took Him down from the tree
Placed Him in the tomb where no one could see
Till on the third day God rolled back the stone
And gave us new life as He gently stooped down!

God Gently Stooped Down by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 
all rights reserved

He Gently Stooped Low

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

He Gently Stooped Low

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. Psalm 18:35 ESV

While the ESV gives us the picture of a Mighty God who is gently on our side, the old NIV renders that same phrase as, “He stopped low. Like Gandalf entering through a Hobbit doorway, in the Lord of the Rings, Jesus had to bend low enough to enter our world through the stable doorway in Bethlehem. He went to begging blind men, destitute widows and outcast lepers. Jesus had compassion on hungry listeners and washed the dirty feet of disciples. Jesus’ right hand was both gentle enough to bless a child and strong enough to lift a paralyzed man to His feet.

And when His time came He carried the weight of His cross to the top of Golgotha where those gentle hands were nailed to the wood. Then as He stooped His lowest in death, Jesus reached lower still as we were falling deep into our sins, and caught us, raised us up and gave us the greatness of His salvation. Oh how mighty and gentle is our Jesus! He gently stooped low enough to save us and then shared His greatness with His children!

God’s Heavy Rescue Plan

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15 KJV

We go every week to church on Sunday morning, take communion and spend time worshipping with our brothers and sisters, but I confess that on Sunday night I love to watch a show with the questionable title; “Highway Through Hell!” In spite of how it sounds, this program is not about sinful lifestyles with sketchy scenes, but rather about a hardy bunch of Canadian tow-truck operators. I especially enjoy the watching these guys go out into the worst possible winter weather to rescue tractor trailers tipped over and stuck in several feet of snow. After working out in similar conditions for years cutting trees, I can really identify with these guys. I can still feel my own frozen hands when I see them hook up their cables working hard, to get these big rigs back on the road. One of my favorite highlights of the show is their catchphrase, “on the highway through hell – closure is NOT an option!” My wife rolls her eyes every time they say this with me chiming in at the beginning of each episode!

Photo by Burak Kebapci on Pexels.com

While I do not watch these rescues for their spiritual content; they do remind me of God’s work in our lives. In today’s scripture the Apostle Paul responds to critics of his past sinful lifestyle, by agreeing wholeheartedly with them. He tells them that yes he was indeed a sinner and in fact the worst sinner of all. But then he goes on to point out that God sent Jesus to the cross because He was in the business of rescuing sinners. Just like many of us, Paul had veered off life’s road and gotten jammed up in the snow drifts of sin. But then He remind us that we can have hope – no matter how big a wreck we have made in our lives – because Jesus went out into the worst possible conditions to die on the cross for our sins. Today, the power of the blood of Jesus is far greater than any heavy equipment on my favorite show, because He not only pulls us to safety but He completely restores smashed up lives and sets us upright on our wheels, headed in the right direction. By God’s amazing mercy, we are no longer on a Highway through Hell but on His Highway that leads to Heaven. Now with Jesus behind the wheel of our life it is more true than ever that “Closure is not an option!”

Photo by Ricardo Esquivel on Pexels.com