Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Dial Daily Bread: Crying "Out of the Depths"

ear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We don't need any preacher or Bible student to remind us of the Saviour's love: if we fail a thousand times, He does not give up on us.

The price which Jesus paid on the cross in His sacrifice is great enough to care for us, no matter how far we wander away. This is not to encourage our wandering away; no; when we appreciate the "breadth, and depth, and length, and height" of His love revealed at the cross, we cannot wander away!

It's clearly stated in 2 Corinthians 5:14: "The love [agape] of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge [in other words this is not mere sentimentalism; this is cold logic of the purest kind!] that if One died for all, then were all dead [that means, all would be dead if He had not died for us!]; and that He died for all, so that they which live should not live unto themselves [in other words, it's impossible for the one who appreciates what Christ has already done for him/her to go on living for self]; but unto Him who died for them and rose again" (vss. 14, 15).

"Appreciates"--that's a key word.

That's not just raising your hand in a big meeting saying yes, you "accept Jesus." That means to contemplate, to think about, to let it sink in, what it cost the Son of God to save us.

He had to go to hell, to enter in, to give Himself to hell forever--because His love is so great. That is where He found us!

Psalm 130: "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. ... There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be reverenced" (vss.1-4).

You never truly appreciate the extent of that "forgiveness" until you find yourself apparently abandoned in those "depths," out of which you finally "cry." I said "apparently;" you are never truly abandoned but you get to where the burden of your guilt and of your fear is so great that you feel like you have been abandoned; so ... it's "out of the depths" that you finally cry.

Think about it; let your heart be "enlarged" to appreciate how deep are those "depths."



Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.