Despised and Rejected

"He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; and like One from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him. But in fact He has borne our griefs, and He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we ignorantly assumed that He was stricken, struck down by God and degraded and humiliated." Isaiah 53: 3-4

Recently I've experienced a lot of anxiety and passages like this sum up my deep humiliation as a human. I am guilty. I am a deep sinner. I lie, cheat and steal when I think those things can help me get ahead. And yet often I'm ashamed of the perceptions I think people have of me more so than the acts I've actually committed (or not committed). And how often we get it wrong about other people or people get it wrong about us. We judge things we don't completely understand. We make snap-judgments. We take people's past behaviors, or what we understand about them, and hang them as permanent dark clouds over someone's life.

I'd like to believe because of God I can be better. I believe and have hope He's as sovereign and big as I read in this passage. When He came to earth the Jews were looking for a king to lead them out of captivity into power and glory. And in all their digging in about this perfect picture, so many missed the perfect God that came. And He came in the greatest power and might- as a vessel that understands us, that willingly walks alongside our terribleness and instead of rejecting us, carries our sorrows and pains.

His life on this earth, His power creating this earth, His ongoing love and splendor in this world are fascinating to me. He built a world that would fall, that would be sinful and degrading to Him. He came willingly to be despised and rejected. He came willingly so that His love, deep grief over how ugly we make things and His truth would shine through all the confusion, all the misplaced anxiety and through all the fear.

We are so constantly confused and afraid. And yet, Jesus is such a bright guiding light that deeply wants to show us a clean, simple path of following Him in this life into the next. He was despised and rejected and willing to endure sorrows and pain so we can know Him. He's got such love and hope for us that He willingly came here to save us from ourselves.

He is such a treasure, our only hope. Lord God, teach us how to appreciate your worth. To esteem you. To see beyond our fears, our worldview, our biases. Lord teach us how to be like you, that in your great love you willingly entered a world that would hate and reject you. And yet you didn't hate us first or gather up your defenses. You let it crush you and you loved us still. You forgave us because you see the deep weakness in our humanity. Teach us how to forgive others like you forgive us. Teach us to ask you for forgiveness and live out of sanctification. Teach us how to be fully reliant on you and know that we are saved by grace alone. And in that, to do better and be better not because it gets us salvation but because it's what you did and that's the only way to live.