Suffering Yet Victorious
I seriously considered not writing today because it is Easter, but I was reminded that I am writing because it is an act of worship. Today, of all days, should be a day of worship.
Easter is, by far, my favorite holiday. This morning I was meditating on why that was. What was it about Easter that excites me so much? It is not the chocolate bunnies or the eggs.
During this time of year, I always spend time meditating on my Savior’s suffering and His victorious resurrection. I want to draw back the curtain of my mind and let you in on my thoughts, which I hope will encourage you.
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
This is the first thing that popped into my mind when I started meditating on why this is important to me. Jesus, our High Priest, knows what it is like to be human. He sympathizes with us because He understands. Sympathy is an understanding between people. Jesus, the Son of God, became a human with a single mission…to redeem or buy us back.
Jesus did not live a privileged life. He was born in a stable. His adopted father was a carpenter.
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:3)
This verse pricks my heart whenever I struggle with the “why me” questions. He knows what it feels like to suffer. He knows what it feels like to have sorrow and be acquainted with grief. He knows what it feels like to be despised, rejected, and considered “less than.”
He can sympathize with my sorrows. I can’t say, Lord, you don’t understand what I went through because He does. He was with me while I was going through it. He knew exactly what I was feeling…He is well-acquainted with my grief and sorrow.
The thing that blows my mind every single time is that He took on all this willingly because He loved us. I’m pretty sure if the Father said to me, “Cyndi, I have this opportunity for you…you are going to leave heaven, go to Earth, live with a dysfunctional family, and suffer sexual abuse so you can help many people through what you suffer,” that I would NOT jump at that opportunity.
Really? Leave heaven? That does not seem too appealing to me. And then you want me to suffer? Hmm…let me think about that…umm, no thanks. I would not choose that, but He did.
He chose that because He loved us. I have not experienced that kind of love from anyone in my life but Him. I wrote about His unconditional love toward me and how much that transformed me. When we look at who we are and then look at His total purity, we should shake our heads and wonder why He would willingly trade places with us. Why would he “become sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him?” Because He loved us.
Perhaps the thing that makes me most excited about Easter is the resurrection. Everyone was against Him. They lied, cheated, beat, and crucified Him, but that was not the end of the story. He died, and those closest to Him were extremely sad, but three days later, He rose again. He rose victorious over hell and death.
He broke the chains that bound us. He continues to break the chains that bind us…even the chains of trauma, shame, abuse, bitterness, and the like. We no longer have to be a captive because we have been set free. The judgment against us was nailed to His cross, and He paid it all.
Many times, as trauma survivors, we get hung up on the wounds we received from others and the scars we carry. We feel broken and beyond repair, but did you know that He is the only one with scars in Heaven? We will get a new body, but He retains His scars as a memorial of what He suffered to enable us to go to heaven. That is amazing!!!
Yes, He suffered, but He rose victorious. We also suffer, but we, too, shall be victorious.
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:57–58)
As always, you are not alone. Contact me for a free discovery call.
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