LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2
I have a fierce desire as I read God's Word, to see Him make known in my day the awe of His fame and wonders. A fierce desire for Him in wrath to remember mercy. I love to talk about the God who wows me with His wonders through creation, through His people, through His kindness and mercy in my life.
It is more difficult to discuss a God of wrath. Like Adam and Eve casting blame it seems blame is cast on the Lord God Almighty when He responds in wrath. I stop and look up that word wrath and read: "Holy wrath is no uncontrolled agitation but the settled opposition of God to sin. By coupling mercy with rōgez (wrath), the prophet anticipates the cross, where righteous indignation and saving grace converge." So I see, it is not me God is agitated with, it is the sin within me, the sin Adam and Eve passed on to humanity. And His agitation is because God Almighty deeply loves me and He has a fierce desire for me to be free from the sin that is destroying me. The Godhead loves humanity, me, so much they agreed to step across time and space and Jesus became human. Jesus is the divine plan to rescue humanity from wrath.
The cross stands at a crossroad, an intersection where decision is made. A decision to go low or go high. Sometimes one must go low in order to go high. Jesus Himself descended before He ascended. Jesus stood at the crossroad of time and chose the cross. The cross has become a crossroad, a place of choosing, a place where Jesus blood speaks a better word.
Jesus blood speaks, seven sayings from the cross, a crossroad, seven spirits of the Lord:
1) Father, forgive them, they don't know - this sounds like a spirit of wisdom
2)Today you will be with me in Paradise - this sounds like a spirit of understanding
3)Woman, behold your son...behold your mother - this sounds like a spirit of counsel
4)My God, my God, why have you forsaken me - this sounds like the Spirit of God crying out to the Spirit of God
5)I thirst - this sounds like a spirit of might (I know, sounds like weakness, but after all Jesus had suffered up to this point it was powerful, mighty, to admit His need. We equate neediness with weakness. Perhaps it is only weakness when we struggle through alone, trying to handle life on our own. Perhaps it takes a spirit of might to admit we cannot do it on our own, we need a Living God to rescue us and we need His body, the church - as flawed as we are - to minister to us in that broken place.)
6)It is finished - this sounds like a spirit of knowledge
7)Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit - this sounds like the fear of the Lord
The cross, a crossroad, where divine nature and humanity meet. I set these Scriptures side by side and see them in a new fresh way. My hearts desire becomes fierce, back to the Habakkuk 3:2, Lord! Revive Your deeds. Revive, the word is chayah meaning to live, restore to life as a divine endowment guarded by the Lord - breath and longevity are under Yahweh's immediate governance.
Divine nature meets humanity, as I am, Jesus became, so that as He is, I BECOME, EMPOWERED by His grace. Transformed by BEHOLDING, living in the light of the cross I stand at the crossroad. My voice cries out:
Lesson 12: Fierce desire - THIS IS THE WAY, THE WAY OF THE CROSS, AT THE CROSSROAD, WALK IN HIS WAY.