CP 262 Can you see what I see? Please tell me.

CP 262 Do you see what I see? Please tell me…

So, one of the texts the speaker used last Sunday was this:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Now, he admitted himself that he didn’t do a good job. Understandable enough. He’s a youth Pastor, had never preached before, and only realized he was preaching a couple of days ago. In essence he told us that he had to come to a point in his spiritual life where he understood he needed to take this text seriously and that he had learned to trust God and know that God would show him what he had to do. Good on him.

The ‘advice’ of this text is good. It is wise. It is holy. It is timeless. It is more than advice, it is Torah, it is law. It declares the will of God. It clearly sets out what God asks of us and the promise of blessed direction which is the outcome. We like these words and know and sing them in lovely and lively choruses. We trust these words. But you know, when I ‘see’ this text on screen or in my bible, my first thought is not, ‘I should do this.’ You might think I am weird but every single time these types of texts are in my face I think of my Lord Jesus. Let me try to explain.

 Inevitably, the very first thing that happens is that a picture forms in my mind of Jesus, age 30, in the wilderness after his baptism, and he is meditating on this text. He is wrestling with his call as messiah and he clearly hears these words addressed to himself. He’s praying. ‘Father, I trust you. I submit to you. Be my guide in all things. Your name be holy in my life. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Your will is my will’

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Now in my heart’s eye I watch his life as if I’m watching a video clip. It’s stunning. Not once, never, not even for a single moment, not in any circumstance, not in any temptation or challenge, does he deviate from this commitment made in the wilderness. Not once. He trusts, and he listens, and his steps are directed.

Finally, this obedience, this unerring faithfulness, comes to a gob-smacking conclusion. The straight path on which his Father has led him has taken him straight to Calvary, to his own crucifixion. It takes him to a place where the Father is silent and he is forsaken. And then he himself is silent, can no longer hear. There he lays, in a tomb, dead as a doornail. What was the promise? Oh, yes. …he will make your paths straight. So much for trusting, whatever, whenever.

My God! I can’t believe it! He is alive again. He lives. For goodness sake he lives. Glory, glory, alleluia. Amen. Alleluia.

Two things. First, what I have seen in my ‘video clip’ is the only possible way for Satan to be overcome and defeated. Sin has to be atoned for and now has been atoned for. The accuser no longer has a case to present. The prosecution not only lapses, it collapses. For that alone I am glad.

Secondly, I have seen something else, something so profound that I can never live my life the same way I used to live it. His perfect fulfilment of the requirements of that text is counted as my perfect fulfilment of it! In that courtroom, His Father, now my Father, has extended Jesus’ perfect track record of trust to me. To me! In Him, I am now utterly righteous. Unalterably, shockingly righteous. His righteousness is my righteousness, right now. I am dressed for presence. Dressed for heaven. Dressed for home. And miracle of miracles, until I get there, now, for the first time, I am free to live and trust the way he lived and trusted. Deo Gratias.

Do you too see what I see? Please let me know… Fred