At the Feet of Jesus by Joanna Weaver – Day 9
O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:58
Of all the titles of Jesus, I’ve come to appreciate most that He is my Redeemer. After walking so many years with the Lord, through both good times and bad, I can declare along with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).
When God interrupted humanity’s downward spiral by sending His own Son, Jesus came into a culture that expected the Messiah to set up a kingdom free from problems, sorrow, and pain. Even His own disciples expected He would topple Rome and set up a new regime complete with corner offices and special perks reserved just for them.
Those looking forward to the Promised One had always believed He would reinvent the world.
Instead, God chose to redeem it.
Which means sin is still present and Satan is still active. Murder and violent wars cover the earth. Sickness ravages bodies and minds and hearts. Too often, the innocent die young. Surely, we think, there has to be a better way.
After all, God could have pushed the reset button long ago, at the beginning of time. He could have taken one look at the mess we humans had made—our rebellion, our hatred, our immorality and idolatry—and decided to delete it all. With one push of a button, God could have rebooted and started over.
Instead, He became a man. On the cross He took the weight of our mistakes. All my failures, all your hurts, all our devastation. And with a final breath He redeemed it all.
—Lazarus Awakening
Read: Luke 1:68–75
Reflect: Describe the redemption Jesus came to bring.
Excerpted from At the Feet of Jesus by Joanna Weaver. Copyright © 2012 by Joanna Weaver. Excerpted by permission of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
