Tag: bible

Our Savior Weeps

Claire's Prayer

There are times when the ache in your heart threatens to overwhelm you, when your heart literally feels pain because of a grief so great or a burden too deep.  The only way to relieve that pressure that presses deep into your soul is to weep.  To cry great heaving sobs, oceans of tears, and then perhaps, but only perhaps, there is some sense of respite.   So many people tell me that they feel great after a ‘good cry,’ but I don’t.  I feel terrible, my head aches, and my eyes are red and irritated, and I’m an ugly crier, a hot mess.

Right there in the middle of a victory celebration, where palm fronds were waved, and thousands cried out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:9) the King of Kings, riding on the back of a young colt looked out over Jerusalem and literally began to sob. “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-42)

My heart hurt when I read this verse, knowing that my Savior was so overcome with sorrow during this short celebration.  This was not simply a few tears that stained Jesus cheeks but the Greek tells us this was mourning, sobbing, or wailing aloud!  The grief that hit Jesus’ heart as he looked at Jerusalem caused His shoulders to shake as he began to cry. 

The future loss of His beloved city was almost too much to bear.  This should have been “their day!”  “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day…”.  Not only were there 300 prophecies about the Messiah but this was such an important day that it had been prophesied by Daniel 483 years before!  It was a day that Israel could and should have recognized. 

Sir Robert Anderson, the former head of Scotland Yard, calculated in his book, The Coming Prince, that Jesus’ triumphal entry was exactly 483 years after Daniel spoke of it in Daniel 9:25. Incredible!  The day Zechariah predicted, the day Daniel spoke of, was such an important day, and it could have been “their day.” 

No wonder our precious Savior’s shoulders shook with grief, no wonder a sob escaped his throat, as He contemplated the future of His chosen people.  The signs were all there but they didn’t see Him, they didn’t recognize their Messiah!

Is today “your day?”  Your appointed time, the day in which you need to acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied about countless times in the scriptures?  A day created for you from the beginning of time.  A day that will bring you peace, freedom, and joy in Christ, the beginning of a journey with the King!

Resolutions?

Claire's Prayer

January 2022!  When I say that out loud it doesn’t seem possible that we could be in 2022 already. Along with a new year comes new visions, resolutions, a brand-new page to be written upon.  It’s a time to sit and ponder about what 2022 will bring, a time of hope for the future.  We want to do better, be thinner, get fitter, save more, love more.  A desire for change is birthed every New Year’s morning.

As I sat and considered my own life a study came across my desk, it is called The Power of 4 Effect.  The Center for Bible Engagement surveyed over 400,000 people around their world and their findings were astounding.  If you are not reading your Bible four times a week, then your life is statistically the same as that of a non-believer!  Your life will not change in any significant way than that of one who never reads His Word.  This survey also discovered if you are in God’s Word four times a week, you are 30% less likely to be lonely, 59% less likely to view pornography, 228% more likely to share your faith, and 407% more likely to memorize Scripture.  These are some mind-blowing stats!

John 8:31-32 says this; “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  If you tarry and remain in the Word of God, then you will know the truth.  Not only that, His Word will set you free and deliver you from bondage.  What a beautiful promise, a promise of change and freedom.

As the sun rises over 2022 may I encourage you that if you make any resolution, make it one of being in the Word of God.  He will change you, remold you, and set you free.  You will be a radically different person by the end of this year.  Not only that but when those hard times come you will have something to stand on, God’s Word hidden in your heart!