verticallife

If someone were to say to you, “I don’t deserve this,” what would you think? Someone might be saying it as a result of all that has happened to him. They lost their job. They found a new one, but it doesn’t make near enough to pay the bills. His son is sick, and he’s not sure where the money will come to cover medical expenses.

Or you might hear someone say, I don’t deserve this,” as a result of the good they have received.

Finally, after days of hearing his friends sound off, God responded. He asked, “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?” (Job 39:1) The answer was an obvious no. He alone is the One who watches over His creation. “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” (Job 40:2)

God’s questions humbled Job. “I am unworthy-how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.” (40:3) I am unworthy. Said another way, I don’t deserve this. Job continued.

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (42:2-6)

When we come face to face with our own sinfulness, and go from simply hearing about God to seeing and experiencing Him personally, our first response is the need to make things right. When we realize how the cross of Christ removed the penalty of sin, we too realize, “I don’t deserve this.” Repentance is doing a 180. It’s turning our lives around in such a way that we willingly give up our old way of life and turn to God’s way of living.

Today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy simply means mandate and it comes from the mandate Jesus gave on the last night with His disciples: “Love one another.” (see John 13) It was a night like this that Judas betrayed Jesus. It was a night like this that Peter realized how easy it was to deny ever knowing Jesus. It’s a night like this when we realize the ways we too have betrayed and denied Him. “I don’t deserve this.”

Tomorrow we remember Jesus’ crucifixion, how “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5-7)

We don’t deserve it. We deserve the punishment. After all, our actions deserved discipline. Yet, that’s grace. Justice is getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. He offers us a brand new start, a brand new life. But the story doesn’t end there.

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (42:10) The end of the story isn’t simply that God blessed Job again. Job prayed for his friends. Job prayed for the same men who have him such a hard time during his hard times. They didn’t deserve it, but they too were forgiven. Are there people in your life who “don’t deserve this?”

“So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves,” God told his friends. “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” (42:8) A sacrifice has already been made. The price has already been paid. Like Job for his friends, we now have one who “is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)

Keeping hope alive is a full time job. As you celebrate the betrayal, the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend, know that “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:19)

From two undeserving men… Johnny & Ernie. It’s our hope and our prayer that you will anchor yourself to the only One who is firm and secure: Jesus Christ.