It was the Lord's Will

I love reading The Joshua Code and the insights it brings to the memory verses.  But sometimes you just have to go to the source in the Word and really get a sense for the context and what is there for us to learn, absorb, and hold onto.  So I'd encourage you this week, as we focus on Isaiah 53:6, to get out your Bible and read through all of Chapter 53.

I consider what Christ endured for me: the rejection, the judgement, the oppression, the suffering.  I read that all of these things happened because (in 53:10) "...it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer..." and it brings me to a quick halt when I remember that:

"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."
(Isaiah 53:6)

It makes me pause in wonder that even though I turned away from Him, Christ died for me.  He was judged - for me.  He suffered - for me. It was the Lord's will to "lay on Him the iniquity of us all".  Iniquity is a fancy word, but it is defined as 'the quality of being evil' and 'wickedness' and 'gross immorality'.  It was His will that Jesus, in his complete absence of anything evil, wicked, or immoral, get the punishment, pain, and death that I deserve for my iniquity.  He knew what I needed before I ever did, before I could try to "earn it" and when I foolishly thought I was somehow able to be "good enough" for that kind of love.  

He did all this for you too.