Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Welcome to Lent Meditation and Worship with Westside Church during this lentin season. Meet us here each day as we read scripture, worship, and rest in the presence of God together. Know that as you listen today, you are doing so with others, whether in the same places as you are not, and we pray that the Holy Spirit permeates the places we each find ourselves in right now. For more resources and to find each week's prayer and song, visit westside church.org/lent. Let us start today by clearing our minds and opening our hearts to what the Lord wants to speak to us through His word. Take a deep breath in and out and another in and out.
Speaker 0 00:01:00 Isaiah chapter 50, verse four through nine, the Lord, the eternal equipped me for this job with skilled speech, a smooth tongue for instruction, I can find the words that comfort and sooth the down trodded, tired and despairing, and I know when to use them each morning. It is God who wakes me and tells me what I should do, what I should say. The Lord. The eternal has helped me to listen and as I do, he says, I have not been rebellious or run away from God's work, but it's been hard. I offered my back to those who whipped me, my cheeks, to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away from humiliation and spitting because the Lord the eternal helps me. I will not be disgraced. So I set my face like a rock, confident that I will not be ashamed. My hero who sets things right is near who would dare to challenge me. Let's stand and debate this head-to-head. Who would dare to accuse me? Let him come near. See here the Lord, the eternal helps me. Who could possibly win against me?
Speaker 0 00:02:28 Isaiah was the prophet who told the world of Jesus coming as wonderful counselor, prince of peace, mighty God and everlasting Father. He wrote of a beautiful celebration and joy that would be with the birth of Jesus. And just a little bit later in his book, he again prophesized of the servant of God and how Jesus would suffer the very first day of Lent. We read Isaiah 53 and how Jesus would become to known as the man of sorrows. Next week is holy week, and that leads into our Easter celebration. Lent is coming to a close and we can't forget of the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Sometimes it's easier to think of Jesus crucifixion as just a story that has been passed down through the ages, but it's not just a story when we look at it head on. We can't help but be confronted with the suffering Jesus went through for us, for us, the real true physical suffering he went through for us.
Speaker 0 00:03:46 God laid the sins of the world on him so our debt could be paid so we could be redeemed and made righteous. In this chapter, Isaiah not only reminds of the suffering that will come to Jesus, but how Jesus voluntarily walked into that suffering. I offered my back to those who whipped me, my cheeks, to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away from humiliation and spinning. Let us not forget as we get closer to Good Friday, that Jesus suffered and gave up his life and died willingly for us. He wasn't surprised by any of it. He chose and he chose us, and he would do it again and again.
Speaker 0 00:04:40 God's love poured out of Jesus on that cross and in all of the humiliation, Jesus was not disgraced. He is and was loved by the Father and chose to love us. Let's pray. Caught between joy and despair. We yearn for the fulfillment of God's desire between the brokenness and neediness in this life. We offer thanksgiving for God's presence with us and petitions for the transformation of the world and the church life giver, pain taker, love maker. Day by day, you sustain the weary with your word and gently encourage us to place our trust in you. Awaken us to the suffering of those around us. Save us from hiding in denials or tuns that deepen that hurt. Give us grace to share one another's burdens in humble service. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:05:51 Day. So good. God gives ice for thanks to the Lord. For I said, God gives us grace for this days. He makes his shine on our rejo. The Lord is good.
