<x-tad-bigger>Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
Do you ever fall on your knees and cry out to the Lord, “Thank You for
saving me from disaster that I deserved!”?
There are many who would give anything if they could erase from memory
and from their life record some act of willful foolishness or
indiscretion. Often it’s an act of fornication or adultery, an
alluring temptation yielded to, at an unguarded moment, or some really
stupid faux pas that is a blot on an otherwise unstained reputation.
Then almost immediately afterward comes that horrid sense of guilt and
shame. It can be lethal.
A group of us were discussing whether Christ died because our sins
were laid upon Him, or because they were borne within Him. Did He feel
the guilt as though it were His own? Was His identification with
sinful us, a total one?
We read Isaiah 53:6, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us
all”; that’s evidence for the “upon” idea. But we also read 2
Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him [Christ] to BE sin for us, who knew
no sin.” That’s evidence for the “within” idea. It wasn’t antiseptic
poison from the rusty spikes driven through His wrists and ankles that
killed Him; it was raw guilt--ours. The burden overwhelmed Him, as
though He were indeed the guilty One. This profound truth illuminates
the book of Psalms; Christ is all through it, especially the ones that
David wrote. Christ’s name is “God with us.”
If you carry a burden of joy-crushing guilt, remember Psalm 130: “If
You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there
is forgiveness with You, that you may be feared” (vs. 3). You’d think
the Psalmist would say, “There is guilt . . . that You may be feared.”
No, it’s forgiveness; the overwhelming sense of abounding grace, His
bearing your guilt and freeing you from it. All your lifetime
thereafter you “walk softly” like Ahab did when he repented of his
monstrous crimes (1 Kings 21:27, 28).
And if the dear Lord has saved you from yourself, you still “walk
softly” for you know you have not an iota of righteousness of your own
(see Isa. 54:17). You realize the evil you would have done had there
been no Savior there to hold you by your hand (cf. Matt. 8:25; 14:30;
incidentally, that healthy, self-humbling realization is akin to
“corporate repentance”).
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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