Daily Devotional: Monday, March 30, 2020
SCRIPTURE READING
Isaiah 53:7a (KJV)
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:
Have you ever been called a “crybaby?” Did it make you mad? Maybe you responded, “I’m not a baby! I’m a boy!”
A crybaby is someone who cries too easily and too loudly. A crybaby cries to get Mommy’s attention. A crybaby cries to get his older brother in trouble. Was Jesus a crybaby?
No. Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would be no crybaby when he wrote, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.”
Jesus did not cry. In fact, even when the man who could sentence Him to death asked Him questions, Jesus was silent. In the Gospel of John (19:9-10), we read this man, Pilate, said to Jesus:
“Where are You from?”
But Jesus gave him no answer.
So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”
Just like Isaiah had prophesied, “He opened not his mouth.” In the New Testament (1Peter 2:23), the Apostle Peter tells us that Jesus, “while being reviled …did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
Part of the righteousness of Jesus was that, when He obeyed His Father by going to the Cross, He did not complain. Not one bit. He trusted His Father completely and did what His Father told Him to do without answering back or whining or crying.
QUESTIONS
- When Jesus was dying on the cross, was He obeying His Father? (See Philippians 2:8)
- When Jesus was dying on the cross, were other people yelling at Him? (Luke 23:35-39)
- When Jesus was dying on the cross, was He yelling back at them? (Luke 23:34) But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they so not know what they are doing.”
SONG OF THE WEEK
Ah, Holy Jesus
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted!
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee!
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee;
I crucified Thee.
Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered.
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.
For me, kind Jesus, was Thine incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation:
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
Listen to Ah, Holy Jesus on Clearnote Songbook
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Dear Father, help me never to complain about the circumstances of my life, remembering the example of Jesus my Savior Who suffered worse things without once grumbling. Help me to be like Him in willing submission to Your will, and help my heart in every condition to rest content in You. In Christ’s Name. Amen.
OTHER PRAYER NEEDS
- Godliness for us in our homes
- Wisdom for our leaders
- Patience as we wait upon God to deliver us from coronavirus
SCRIPTURE MEMORY THIS WEEK
Isaiah 53:9-10 (KJV)
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
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.
