Thirsty for Jesus
“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink’ ” (John 7:37, NAS).
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God, My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2 a, NAS).
The Role of Desperation
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”? ‘The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” ‘You will not surely die’, the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ ” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Jesus and the Desperadoes
- The disciples who dropped everything to follow Jesus
The Disciples (Matthew 4:18-22) “As Jesus was walking beside the
- The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment
The Woman With an Issue of Blood (Matthew 9:18-22)~"While he was saying this, a ruler
came and knelt before him and said, 'My daughter has just died. But come and put your
hand on her, and she will live.' Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just\
then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and
touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, 'If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.'
Jesus turned and saw her. 'Take heart, daughter,' he said, 'your faith has healed you.' And
the woman was healed from that moment."
- The prostitute at the party of Pharisees
The Sinful Woman at the Pharisee's Party (Luke 7:36-50)-"Now one of the Pharisees invited
Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the
Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at
his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her
hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him
saw this, he said to himself, 'Ifthis man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him
and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner.' Jesus answered him, 'Simon, I have
something to tell you.' 'Tell me, teacher,' he said. 'Two men owed money to a certain
moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the
money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him
more?' Simon replied, 'I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.' 'You have
judged correctly,' Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, 'Do you
see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she
wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this
woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my
head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been
forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.' Then Jesus said
to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.' The other guests began to say among themselves, 'Who is
this who even forgives sins?' Jesus said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in
peace.' "
- Zacchaeus the tax collector
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (Luke 19:1-10)-"Jesus entered
through. A man was there by the name ofZacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was
wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of
the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was
coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus,
come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and
welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the
guest of a "sinner." , But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and
now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,
I will pay back four times the amount.' Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this
house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and
to save what was lost.' "
- The Canaanite woman
The Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-28)-"Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the
region of
'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from
demon-possession.' Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged
him, 'Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the
lost sheep of
replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.' 'Yes, Lord,' she
said, 'but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.' Then Jesus
answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was
healed from that very hour."
- What was different about the Desperadoes, compared to what we know about the Pharisees?
- How were these individuals different in what they said and did?
- What motivated the Desperadoes that seems different from the Pharisees?
- What drew Jesus to these people?
- Why did Jesus gravitate to and honor the Desperadoes?
- What about Jesus draws him to these people?
Inviting Jesus to Enter our Desperation
“Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me.” (Oswald Chambers – My Utmost for His Highest)
- Do you think this statement is true? Why?
- What does it mean to “receive ourselves” in our suffering?
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow – Oswald Chambers
June 25
“What shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ‘Father, glorify Your name’ ” (John 12:27-28)
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a persons’ shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away.
If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
“The Silence of God” by Andrew Peterson
(Song Summary)
When you're desperately hurting and craving God's comfort and strength, it can literally break you to hear only silence in response to your cries.
It can seem impossible to get your mind off of the things that are crushing your spirit.
Even though Jesus has told us his "yoke is easy" and his "burden is light," it often seems as though our burdens are way too heavy for us-especially when God seems absent or distant to us.
It's even harder to see other Christians apparently enjoying all the good things life has to offer-health and wealth and happiness-and have to listen to them piously tell you that Jesus has taken away all their troubles.
But you know the truth-everyone must wrestle with sorrow and trouble, and even those who follow Christ can lose their way.
It's easy to forget that Jesus experienced great troubles-think of his desperation in the
So Jesus understands-deeply-the silence and sorrow we sometimes bear alone.
God does not abandon us in that silence-soon our aching questions fade in importance, replaced by his intimate presence. Our sorrows don't have to break us-they can lead us into the very presence of God.
“Just As I Am” By Andrew Peterson
(Song Summary)
Just is a heartbreaker – not, of course, in the romantic sense. But when we love him, he breaks our hearts. And he takes the broken bits and makes something beautiful grow out of them.
It’s incredible that Jesus is able to take our heartbreaks and transform them into something beautiful.
Jesus has proved, over and over and over, that He knows us intimately and loves us deeply.
But we have a deep anxiety that all that is beautiful in our lives – all of the beauty Jesus is growing – can be taken away by our own terrible choices. We fear that there are limits to God’s love for us, that it’s ultimately a conditional love and he expects us to perform well to get it.
But then we remember the great sacrifices of Jesus, and we remember that there are no lengths he will not go to in his pursuit of us. We are loved, truly.
The “seeds” of love Jesus has planted in our lives do bear “fruit,” and Jesus longs to use that fruit for the good of others in our lives. But he’s not in love with our fruit – he’s in love with us. He loves us, truly.
No comments:
Post a Comment