Daily Devotional

Have you ever found yourself wanting a different side of God to be present in a particular situation? Maybe you’ve told your friends at a certain life juncture, “I know what you’re going to say, but right now I just need you to be this.” In so many ways that’s where many of the oppressed Jews were at the time when Jesus came as the Messiah, while the persecution and brutal dominance of Rome was the only thing they cared to be delivered from. They wanted a Lion deliverer in the natural, and the Father sent Jesus as a sacrificial lamb for the spiritual. That turned out to be severely disappointing to the Jews who couldn’t wrap their heads around that counter-intuitive, humble gift from God, that they ended up rejecting and killing their own redemption.

 Thankfully God has never needed the cooperation of mortals to effectively fulfill His divine plans. He is never handcuffed, shackled or even the slightest hinder, when our frailty or weakness is exposed. Man, isn’t that comforting?! ;)

Have you had desperate times of weakness when you’re hoping the Lion of Judah would come roaring with power to save the day? And then instead He shows you divine power expressed in weakness and meekness as the costly lamb? As natural as it is to want to celebrate that “Jesus took the bullet for us 2000 years ago, now we just get to party,” the example of the Suffering Servant was an example for us to follow as well. That if we’re going to be like our Lord and ever step into significant authority representing His Kingdom in this fallen land, it will often require us walking the broken road like the Lamb. Thus this amazing statement in the Gospel of John when John the Baptist said “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 When Israel just wanted a powerful ruler to overthrow their physical oppressors, God sent meekness in a Lamb, to fulfill something much greater… their own redemption.

Prayer-“God give us grace to embrace whichever side of Your face you reveal in every season of our life’s journey. Today we strive to trust You to decide what we need in each step, whether the Lion, or the Lamb, and know that through you, we are made an overcomer.”

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.