In Isaiah 53 Jesus is described as "a root out of dry ground....a man of sorrows acquainted with grief...oppressed and afflicted...had done no violence...no deceit in his mouth...it was the will of the Lord to crush Him."
Have you ever felt wrongly accused? Ever felt like there is no one that knows what it is like to be in your place. Think of Jesus. He walked this earth sinless, curing disease, feeding the hungry, training men to do the same, and letting the lost know that God loves and forgives them. At the same time, during His entire ministry people tried to malign and twist His words. Pharisees waited with anticipation for Jesus to slip up in His words(Luke 14, 15). Jesus never did, most days the Pharisees walked away trapped in their own questions. No wonder He was called both a "root out of dry ground" and "a man of sorrows".
As I read the Gospel of Luke I see Jesus walk through the temptation to throw in the towel and go home. You can almost hear it in His voice at times(Luke (:40-42). But instead He chooses to pray to God and walk the hard road of people rejecting the truth. Why? Because it is worth it to Him to save the ones that accepted His truth and hear the crowds glorify God in response(Luke 13:10-17). Jesus kept His eyes focused at all times. I believe that some days it was easier than others for Him. He knew what was God's will and what was not. Even when His closest friends thought they knew what was best(Matt 16:23), He rejected their words and stuck close to God's will. He gutted it out and walked through the trenches. And in the end, Jesus died the most painful death in the history of man and trusted in God even though Gods will was to crush Him(Isaiah 53:10) before He got to be back in heaven.
I would love to say I have some great application for this, but I don't. Sometimes the reflection on the reality of what Christ went through is all I need to keep life in perspective and glorify my God for everything He is.
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