Forgiveness

Every Detail His Design

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The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. Exodus 26:2-3

Though I love Nancy more than the day, fifty-two years ago when we said, “I do!” sometimes she makes me crazy! Sitting down to dinner, I get told there is a right way and wrong way to set the knife and fork by my plate, and that the napkins can only point in one direction. But when I read the book of Exodus, I find that in many ways God’s attention to details is a lot like hers. In today’s verse I wondered about the thoughts running through the mind of Moses while God dictated to him His instructions for building the tabernacle. Did he ever question why all of this was important. After all, when God had met him at the burning bush, He spoke of delivering the Israelites from Egypt to, “…bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” Exodus 3:8

But what About that Promised Land?!

Somewhere between the purple curtains and the goatskin outer covering, Moses might have wanted to ask, “Hold the presses God! Where is the milk and honey that You mentioned at the beginning?” But Moses had been through too much to question the God who went from sending frogs into the Egyptians bread dough to parting the Red Sea. Every step of the way, through every detail of their struggles, and fears, God had been working out His plan. And, in the middle of all the details, issues, bumps and bruises of your life God is still working out the details. He delights in watching over sparrows and lost lambs. The same God of Niagara Falls is the one who fills the brook with crawdads. He directs everything in His creation, and this same God of tabernacle curtains, and plagues also cares for us. He has generously given us both daily bread and the life of His only Son to forgive our sins. And right now, God invites us to a place of wondrous purple curtains, angels and lampstands, and best of all, a place at His table. There we will discover that through each major stumble and tiny heartache, every frustration and forgiveness that He has been working for our good through every detail according to His loving and mysterious design!

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The Cross is Enough

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Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Romans 4:25 ESV

When Jesus rose from the dead, things were confusing, and the world seemed to turn upside down, but everybody knew one thing for sure – The tomb was empty! When the men guarding the tomb saw an angel, they passed out cold! Later, that morning when the women came, they saw that the was stone rolled away and they ran as fast as they could to tell the disciples! By the time Peter and John arrived, all they could find was the empty burial cloths. Can you imagine what kind of questions filled their minds? Finally, the answer came as Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb, Jesus came close to talk with her, and He wants to talk with you and me today.

Just as all of these people found something far better than what they were looking for: God wants you to find that same something today. He knew that we needed hard evidence because the grip of past failures in our lives could only be broken by a victory stronger than any failure or sin. That something is our resurrected Lord! His life is proof positive that God forgives our guilt, and His resurrection tells us that the cross was enough to wash away our sins. No matter who we are, there is good news, because all the selfish choices of our past have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, not just for us to celebrate on Easter, but so that every day, when we face our failures, we can remember that the cross was enough. The empty tomb is proof positive God has forgiven and set us free to serve Him forever!

Psalm 22 before Psalm 23

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"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22:1a

Most people would agree that the most comforting Psalm in the Bible is the twenty-third Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Is a verse many of us have memorized. It is stitched on pillows, hung on walls and inscribed on the flyleaf of many a Bible. But before Psalm twenty-three, comes Psalm twenty-two, which begins with the terrible cry, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? The suffering of the psalmist is only second to his lack of understanding of why God could allow this to happen to him, and that cry is the one Jesus spoke while in the agony of death He struggled to breath on the cross. This, of all the things that Jesus said has always been the most puzzling to me. I know how terribly He suffered, and that the pain and agony of His crucifixion was more than I could ever bear. But as God’s Son, how could He ever think that He was abandoned? He knew what He was getting into from the moment of his birth, from the instant He was acclaimed by John the Baptist to be the Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world. But the sin was so heavy; it was heavier than even He fully understood until in HIs final moments. That is when He cried out with that terrible question, “Why have you…. You my God…forsaken me?” The answer is almost more puzzling than the question: He was abandoned for me and for you. Abandoned on the cross for a guilty thief, a centurion who had given the orders to drive nails through His feet and for disciples who had run away at HIs arrest. Crushed under the heaviness of the sins of the world He cried out, but then we must remember that there is more to the Psalm than its opening line. Those words were also a signpost that pointed to the last words,

"They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people yet unborn. that He has done it." 
Psalm 22:31

And then, after the closing of the door on the suffering of Jesus in Psalm twenty-two, the doorway opens for us to the comforts of Psalm Twenty-three. There, our suffering Savior, becomes our Good Shepherd. There, He leads us into green pastures, righteous paths and through even the valley of death to a banqueting table and the Father’s house where we will live forever! I pray that as you consider the depth of the suffering of Jesus for the gift He offers of forgiveness and eternal life that you will spend time with Him today worshipping and surrendering yourself to Him.

This is probably the most important message which I have shared this year. I encourage you to listen to all of it in this morning’s video and that it may bring you hope and comfort, whatever you are going through right now. May God bless and carry you through both now and always.