Joy in Sorrow
“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.’”
Today’s Text: Ezekiel 16:53-63 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
God is faithful, even when (especially when) we are not. And that truth is the only source of hope for humanity.
Humans are capable of some incredibly great achievements, all by the grace of God and with the image of God inside of us. What we are not capable of is faithfulness—not in its perfect sense.
And that is because true faithfulness will require some sacrifice that we will not be willing to make. Sacrifice that results in personal glory is doable and often done. Sacrifice that results in humiliation for the sake of others is undoable.
But Scripture says -
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
— Hebrews 12:2b
And when we fix our eyes on Jesus and His sacrifice on behalf of all humanity, our own faith is strengthened so that we may endure our own cross, scorning whatever shame may come, knowing that we too will sit with Him in glory through faith—and that, so that someone else may have an opportunity for the same joy in Christ.
The joy of our salvation in Christ is found in the midst of the sorrows of our sanctification in Christ. If we cannot grasp the joy that is set before us, the process of being made holy may be too much to bear. But it is in that joy that Christ is most glorified.
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith,” then, is the essential habit that must be developed in our walk of faith. It is, on the one hand, the necessary reminder of God’s love and covenant faithfulness toward us (His hesed). And it is, on the other hand, the necessary reminder that brings strength and hope through sanctification, whenever we are found unfaithful.
Father, You are the Promise-keeper, and it is in Your covenant promises that I find hope. I confess that I so often fall short of Your glory. Your sanctifying work in me becomes so heavy to bear sometimes. Then, You remind me of the joy that comes in taking up my cross. Help me to bear it more and to bear it well for Your glory. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
