Selah

Hello everyone who reads this. If you are named among my friends I pray for you everyday. And if I don't know you, I pray for you more often than you might think.

Have you ever put a lot of time into a gift? Not just some small thing you bought at Wal-Mart or something you picked up at Hobby Lobby? But, have you ever taken a lot of time and consideration into a gift. One you thought would be perfect. A gift that came from your heart and you were sure the other person was going to be ecstatic?

I don't give people gifts that often. It's not that I don't enjoy seeing a person's face light up when you get them something special, it's just that it's really hard for me to find that something special. It can even be for someone close like my dad or mom. I just have a hard time finding the right gift so much that it can be frustrating.

But when you finally have it. That eureka moment when you are so happy that your friend will be surprised, and you give it to them, and they don't seem to appreciate the gift as much as you did?

They didn't mean to hurt your feelings. But you had invested so much thought into a great gift and had built up so much energy into it, that when the moment came to get the reciprocating feelings, you fell flat on your face. Not a good feeling. Not one bit.

New question: If you knew that gift was going to be ill received, if you knew that it would be taken forgranted, would you still give that person your gift? If it's something that came from your heart, would you be willing to share it with them, even if they stepped on it?
Selah.

Isaiah 53:6-7 (KJV)
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

This is saying that Jesus didn't speak back to what was happening to Him. But have you thought about that? His GIFT of life. His GIFT of justification. Have you thought about his gift? The gift He poured His blood into this gift. He gave His flesh. He gave and gave and gave...So we could enter into peace.

Sometimes, we fail to consider that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come. Sometimes, we fail to consider that He was bruised for our iniquities, that the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

Peace. Selah. When we don't take that which the Lord has offered us. Has sacrificed for us! When we live in turmoil with the purchase of peace in our grasp, how can that make God feel good?

I would be heart crushed to have spent so much time and effort and investment into such a gift, only to have it ignored. The pain God has given himself to stand for unconditional love is mind numbing. He could have made it work based. "I only love you if you love me". It would have been blissfully easier. He could have saved himself heart break, pain, ridicule, grief and sorrow.

But listen to this...
Isaiah 53:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

That is amazing. In doing this, Jesus redeemed us. Our sin is forever removed. We have relationship with God.

What a loving, merciful, unselfish Father we have. Selah.