Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
JOHN 19:13 | 13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha.
LUKE 23:46 | 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
The words from John’s gospel render a word that means both “over” and “complete.” What contemporaries saw as the negation or end of his work, Jesus saw as its fulfillment: “for this I came into the world.” Forty percent of the gospels describe the final week of Jesus’ life—after teaching, preaching, healing, befriending, exposing, feeding, challenging, mentoring, exorcising, and freeing—it remains to be the Lamb who came to take away the world’s sin.
The words from Luke should be a summary of the trust that was central in our Lord’s life. Leaders challenged, Jesus trusted; disciples wavered, Jesus trusted; family doubted, Jesus trusted; critics attacked, Jesus trusted; judges condemned, Jesus trusted; soldiers crucified, Jesus still trusted; trusted that all of His sacrifice and suffering would serve salvation’s purpose and God’s plan.
When was the hardest time for you to trust God?
“Finishing” was arduous. What made it hard, physically and emotionally?
