In the Gospels for both today and yesterday (Mt. 8:18-22 and Lk 9:51-62, respectively), our Lord Jesus impresses upon us how we should respond to His most gracious call to follow Him. "To welcome this call, to respond to it, involves complete abandonment, without delay, without looking back, without being put off by the strangeness, the hardships, the difficulties of the road where we will not always find friends to receive us and lend us help. Might we not merely say that the adventure is not without risk, and that it is a frightening thing to fall into the hands of God?" (Days of the Lord, Volume 6, p111)
My heart quails when I consider that our Lord has "resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51), for there He will suffer and die. Persecution will be my lot as I journey with the Man of Sorrows. Like Him, I will be scorned and rejected. If Christ's only resting place on earth was the cross, what will mine be? If God, mighty and all-powerful, fell three times on the way to Calvary, how many times will this happen to me? What if there's no Simon to help me, no Veronica to comfort me?
But if it's terrifying to fall into the hands of God, it's also reassuring, for I hope, I believe, I know as only faith and love know…
My heart quails when I consider that our Lord has "resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem" (Lk 9:51), for there He will suffer and die. Persecution will be my lot as I journey with the Man of Sorrows. Like Him, I will be scorned and rejected. If Christ's only resting place on earth was the cross, what will mine be? If God, mighty and all-powerful, fell three times on the way to Calvary, how many times will this happen to me? What if there's no Simon to help me, no Veronica to comfort me?
But if it's terrifying to fall into the hands of God, it's also reassuring, for I hope, I believe, I know as only faith and love know…
You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness forever.
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness forever.
Psalm 16:11
Jesus, I trust in YOU!
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