Acquainted with Grief

Acquainted with Grief

“He is … a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Isaiah 53:3

Chambers was right on with his insights regarding our sin in his June 23 post in My Utmost for His Highest:

We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at it through the eyes of REASON and say if a person will control his INSTINCTS, and EDUCATE himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God.

But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely SIN – and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings is right down to this one issue – if sin rules in me, God life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that.

The culmination of sin in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and mine – that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of grief and sorrow of life.

Thanks, Mr. Chambers, for the reminder. It isn’t just a matter of agreeing with this truth, it is a matter of applying it to our lives. Think about it. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Chronicles 27; Psalm 147; Proverbs 28

Compass Pointers: Whenever a man has seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ...at once he comes right into a head-on collision within his own personal living, with all of his principles and motives upon which he has lived until this moment.... if there is to be a continual manifestation of Holy Spirit life, there must be a constant submission to the crucifixion of the flesh, not simply sometimes, but always.
Alan Redpath

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 26:28; Level 2: Proverbs 26:17-25

Anchored to the Rock: The Bible is permeated by prayer. E. F. Hallock