I want to invite you to slow down and walk very deliberately through the following verses.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised,
and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:3-6 NASB)
This is the lament of Holy Week. Watch as Isaiah 53 unfolds in Song #69 below.
Psalm 69
Save me, O God, because the floods come in upon my soul;
I sink in mire where none can stand; Deep waters o’er me roll.
I with my crying weary am; my throat is parched and dried;
My eyes grow dim while for my God, still waiting I abide.
The men that with no cause at all bear hatred unto me,
More than the hairs upon my head in number seem to be.
Those wrongfully my enemies who seek my soul to slay,
Are very strong; I must restore what I took not away.
O God, my foolishness and sins are surely known to Thee.
Let none that wait on Thee be shamed, Lord God of hosts, through me.
O Thou, the God of Israel, Let none that seek Thy face
be ever made to suffer shame for my acts of disgrace.
For I have borne reproach for Thee; My face is veiled with shame.
To brothers strange, to mother’s sons an alien I became.
For zeal within me for Thy house has been consuming me,
And all reproaches cast at Thee have fallen now on me.
When I was weeping in my soul, my fasting was my shame;
When I in sackcloth clothed myself, their byword I became.
The men who sit within the gate have talked about me long;
And those who gave themselves to drink, about me made a song.
But in a time accepted, Lord, to Thee my prayers ascend;
In Thine abounding love and truth, O God, salvation send.
Deliver me from out the mire, and me from sinking keep;
Deliver me from those that hate, and from the waters deep.
Let not the floods engulf me, Lord; Let me not swallowed be
by gaping depths; Let not the pit close up its mouth on me.
Because Thy mercy, Lord, is good, O answer Thou my plea;
In all of Thy compassion great, O turn Thou unto me.
Ne’er from Thy servant hide Thy face; I’m pressed; soon answer me.
Draw near to me; redeem my soul; My foes come; ransom me.
Well-known to Thee is my reproach, my shame and my disgrace;
The adversaries of my soul are all before Thy face.
My heart is broken by reproach, and I am sick and weak.
I do not find the sympathy and comforters I seek.
They also put most bitter gall into the food I ate;
They gave me vinegar to drink the time my thirst was great.
O let their peace become a trap; A snare their table make;
In darkness let their eyesight fail, and cause their loins to shake.
On them Thine indignation pour; In wrath them overtake;
And let their camp be desolate; Their tents let all forsake.
For they have persecuted him whom Thou Thyself did smite;
They talk about the pain of those on whom Thy wounds did light.
Keep adding their iniquities; Sum up their wickedness;
And let them never enter in to share Thy righteousness.
And from the record book of life O let them be erased;
Upon the roll of righteous men, let not their names be placed.
But as for me, afflicted, poor, and deep in pain am I;
By Thy salvation, O my God, let me be set on high.
The name of God I with a song most cheerfully will praise;
And I in giving thanks to Him, His name will highly raise.
For this will please the Lord far more than will the offering
of any ox with horns and hoofs, Or bullock which I bring.
The humble ones have seen all this, and are with gladness thrilled;
All ye who seek for God, O let your heart with life be filled.
Because the Lord God hears the prayers that from the needy rise,
And those that are His prisoners He never will despise.
Let heav’n and earth give praise, and all with which the sea is filled;
For God will Zion surely save, and Judah’s cities build.
They’ll dwell in their inheritance, Their children’s heritage;
His servants, those who love His name, dwell there from age to age.
Will you dare to sing now? CLICK HERE.
J.D. Walt writes daily for Seedbed’s Daily Text. He serves as Seedbed’s Sower in Chief. Follow him @jdwalt on Twitter or email him at jd.walt@seedbed.com.
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