Divine Lessons

  

The Sweet Sound of Redemption

  It began in the deep recesses of my heart. It was a relentless unsettling feeling that left me lying in an otherwise comfortable and inviting bed for hours with wide open eyes and a mind that would not stop racing. Sleep evaded me. Unsought tears would form and flow down my cheeks as soft cries turned to heart wrenching sobs. The only words my lips could form was a plea to a savior who believed my life was worth it. Images continued to flash across my thoughts. Images of a beaten and ridiculed man, a cross, hands with scars, a bloodstained ground, and my own sin. It was all there- laid out at the foot of that cross-uncovered and exposed. I felt ashamed and vulnerable that my own sin was completely visible before Him. I deserved a look of disgust, wrath, and death. I braced myself for these things but as I cried out to that Messiah King, all I received was mercy.  He saw my sins and the repulsive sins of this world yet he said we were worth it. He wanted to make us new. That night, I realized the cross was not meant to be a place of condemnation; rather it is a throne of grace. The man nailed to it did not intend for us to come before it and leave with shame and guilt. Instead, its more like an alter- a place where we come face to face with our sins and the ugliness of our hearts are exposed and he takes it. Friends, he takes it all. And when he takes it, we leave having been washed in grace and love. We leave filled with power and joy that can only come from an encounter with a King who has victory over sin and death. When we leave, he speaks the same words to our hearts as he did to the woman with the alabaster jar “You are forgiven. Go in peace”.

  With these six words, that Messiah spoke life into my soul. I found myself lying facedown and amidst the tears and labored breaths, all I could do was whisper a soft thank you. I remember as I laid there, my mind was flooded with verses of men and women who existed farther back in this story of redemption. When they found themselves before this Majestic Lord, the Word says they fell to their face and laid prostrate praising Him. Even the saints in heaven are in this same posture day and night crying holy. I cannot fathom this King who believes His people are worth dying for. It leaves me with nothing short of sheer wonder and amazement when I realize that my own thank you blends with the beautiful chorus of the Saints before his throne and the sinners coming to repentance- what a sweet sound that song of redemption must be to Him.