Norman Douty encourages the believer to “come to the Word for one purpose and that is to meet the Lord. Not to get your mind crammed full of things about the sacred Word, but come to it to meet the Lord. Make it to be a medium, not of Biblical scholarship, but of fellowship with Christ. Behold the Lord.”
I try to look at old passages, ones that I’ve heard or read through dozens of times, through this lens whenever I come back to them. If I were watching Caiaphas and Jesus during his trial, if I were a guard in Gesthemane, if Jesus were sitting before me right now—what would I think? What would He be like? Sometimes I think it’s easier to grasp the Divinity of Jesus than His humanity. I can picture a lofty, philosophical and infinitely wise Jesus cooling handling life’s tough situations. But it’s hard for me to think that in His wisdom He also experienced real, raw human emotion. He had internal conflict. He wanted a “way out” in the garden.
Despite His divided feelings about how things should go, I also see a firmly resolute Jesus. He knew the plan and stuck to it, “But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Jesus knew the weight of prophecy and scripture. He knew His people’s toil and struggle to adhere to the law—measures they took to rid themselves of even household mold, much less atone for their own sins. And He knew His role in fulfilling it. Even if everything in His self-protecting human nature wanted to run or fight.
He was falsely accused. I get defense even when I’m accused and I’m at fault. He was spat on and mocked. He didn’t utter a word. His friends all ran and abandoned Him. Peter denied Him. Peter who would build the Church.
But He stuck around.
He held on to what He knew.
He trusted in the Father.
I don’t know that I’m at a place to even try to apply this kind of devotion to my life. I’m not sure I fully understand what it is or what it takes to develop this kind of resolve. Jesus was the embodiment of non-compromising Trust.
I simply want to look. Behold. Wonder. And as I meet with Him, make His acquaintance; hope that He bestows more of Himself on me.
Sixty-six books in a year 