This week I’ve been thinking of the Savior. Celebrating the Lord’s Table has a way of bringing me back to those events which unfolded around Passover many years ago. The agony He endured is incomprehensible to me. I can’t imagine humanity being so cruel that we could inflict on anyone the torture He endured on that one long Friday. How did He make it through those long hours?
We get a hint in the book of Hebrews. The author writes that it was a clear vision of the joy which was still future that enabled Jesus to endure the present horror of the cross. The hope of future joy helped Him endure present pain. That level of clarity is difficult for me to muster, if I am honest. In the midst of a painful experience I just want relief. I do always think of the day when the pain will be gone and joy restored. I want the joy now and am not always willing to wait for it to arrive somewhere down the road.
During the hardest times of life, I have realized that it is also the smallest of words that God’s speaks to me that make all the difference. For example, He says to us all, “I am the Lord your God.” In that statement is one little word which changes everything. It is the word “your.” In that word God claims us as His own. He says He is not just a powerful deity in the skies. He is not even just the Lord. He says, “I am the Lord your God.”
And if that is true, then God is saying that He has put His love upon us. Upon you. Upon me too. And if that is true, then God has claimed us as His own.
So in moments of pain when I do not know what God is doing with my life, He remains the Lord my God. Even though I am confused and wake up wondering what in the world God is doing with me today, He remains the Lord my God. I always know that He is the Lord my God. He has claimed me as His own. I am the apple of God’s eye. And so even though I don’t understand all that He does, and I don’t know exactly where He is leading me, I know He will be with me. I know that He will be with me because I have been claimed by God.
I look forward to the day of joy yet future and I relish today that God has claimed me as His own. Let that be our comfort today. Jesus Christ has claimed us as His own. He is the Lord your God and no one can change that. No one.