Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How close has the Son of God come to us in our humanity? Bible readers generally for centuries have recognized in Psalm 119 a prophetic revelation of the heart cries of Jesus in His incarnation. David wrote it, as he did Psalms 22 and 69; but he was "searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in [him] was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 1:11). We find there a revelation of Christ's human struggle with temptations and "infirmities" "like as we are [tempted and tried], yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, King James Version).
Read those Psalms, believing as you go, and you will be immensely comforted and encouraged. You will find repeatedly He says things that your heart has been trying to say from its deepest depths, but you have been too uncertain or too shy to say. Jesus dares to pray the prayer you wish you had the boldness to pray!
For example: He tells our Father in heaven, "I am small and despised" (Psalm 119:141). Yes! But don't forget the rest in that same breath: "Yet I do not forget Your precepts." So, don't "forget." There's the tension that Jesus felt in His own soul, like you know--one moment sensing your helplessness, the next remembering you've been adopted into the Father's family.
Jesus accepted discipline from His Father: "I know ... that in faithfulness You have afflicted Me" (vs. 75). Even He wasn't ready for His ministry until He was 30!
Instead of harboring resentment against those who "treated [Him] wrongfully," He turned His attention to Bible truth: "I will meditate on Your precepts" (vs. 78). So must you.
He was human enough to know what it is to long for revenge on those who treated Him unfairly: "When will You execute judgment on those who persecute Me?" (vs. 84). Have you ever noticed the innate desire that children know for fairness?
More than ten times in Psalm 119 Jesus prays (in old English), "quicken Me," which means, "make Me alive again." Before His Great Resurrection on "the third day," He had practiced being "resurrected" many times. It was no slang expression for Him, "I almost died!" He knows what a heart-stopping trauma is like. "They almost made an end of Me on earth," He complains; that's when He prayed to be made alive again (vss. 87, 88).
Yes, He has come intimately close to us.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 23, 2003.
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