January 26
Ex 2:11-3 | PS 22:1-18 | Prov 5:7-14 | Matt 17:10-27
As a physician I have learned that body language makes a big difference. So, when I enter a room in my office I always sit down on a stool when talking to my patient. I do the same when entering a labor room for that initial encounter with someone in early labor. When rounding in the hospital, I usually sit on the bottom edge of the bed. What this tells the patient is that they have my full attention. I'm not going anywhere, I don't have one foot out the door. I do this whether I'm running behind in the office, whether I have 5 other patients in labor, etc. Being a physician is more than attempting to fix physical problems. It is in this position where I often hear of brokenness, loneliness, anxieties, depression, abuses, affairs, about prodigals, etc. It is in this position that I often have the ability for this physician to introduce them to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. This is my greatest calling, and if you are a Christian, it is your greatest calling. The world is full of hurting people who feel that no one hears, no one cares, and that help is unavailable.
Consider the cruelty, the hardship, the persecution that the Israelites were suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. Who was listening? Who even cared? We find out Who, in Exodus 3:7-8, "And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites." Though they could see no escape from their bondage, they didn't realize that God already knew what was going on, He indeed heard them and understood their sorrows, and He already had a plan. The same is true for us. No matter what we are going through, God hears, and He is more than able. We also read in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Do you believe this?
We read in Psalm 22:1, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?" While Jesus had been hanging on the cross for three hours, the sky went dark, and if you go to Matthew 27:46, you hear Jesus cry out these words with a loud voice. Many of those surrounding the cross were Jews, and they had their Scriptures memorized. Jesus in a loud voice was drawing them to this Psalm. Like many who feel they are not heard, David reminds them that God both hears and delivers, as we read in 22:2-5, "O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed." One thousand years later, Jesus cried this out at that moment when God laid my sins, your sins, and the sins of the whole world upon our Savior, Jesus Christ. Sin separates us from God, and for the first time Jesus experienced separation from the Father, as it is impossible for God to have fellowship with sin. This Psalm is so much more than for our learning and for historical interest, it is Messianic and it points unmistakably to Jesus as we read in 22:14-18, "I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Yes, this speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus, over 800 years before it was commonly used by the Romans as a form of capital punishment. Take a moment and go either Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, or John 19, and see what Jesus did for you and me. He was forsaken for a time, so that we would not need to be forsaken of God for eternity. This is why we are here. This is why God has not called us home yet. It is to get others to see Jesus for who He is before it is too late. He is our Savior. He is our living Hope. He is our Great Physician.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: