Any curse becomes a blessing because of Jesus Christ
There are so many reasons to worship the Lord and I hope that you make time to look and see what they are because His faithfulness is without measure! Maybe one day it’s a miraculous, earth-shattering event while another day it’s as simple a reason as breath in your lungs or even a great parking space. “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) While it’s not always easy to see the opportunity for thanksgiving and worship in every situation and worshipping the Lord in all times, in all seasons and for all reasons is sometimes just a sheer act of the will, and faith in Him, that doesn’t change the power of God! If anything, your worship as an act of faith opens the door even wider for the power of God as you open yourself to Him!
In the book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord laid out a series of world-changing consequences that would apply to all humankind as punishment. One of the really wickedest things is this: Satan knew that God would punish rebellion and sin, and he deliberately tempted Adam and Eve in their innocence as a way to punish God for casting him out of heaven. He has hated humans since their creation and has influenced and used them to continually try and harm other humans as well as to try and hurt God. Satan is vindictive, evil and will stop at nothing to hurt God by trying to destroy those made in His image. Ugh!
The act of taking the symbol of the curse upon Himself was intentional and deliberate – an open display of the curse He was about to break through His death and resurrection.
Thorns and prickers and weeds weren’t part of God’s initial, perfect design for His creation, yet in Genesis 3, when God laid out the punishment for sin, He included these as part of the curse for Adam. (Genesis 3:17-18) For thousands of years, humankind has toiled in pain, sweat, tears an blood clearing land to plant crops and live, but we have to first remove weeds, thorns and prickers which keep growing back! Every time you have pricked your finger or had to remove an ugly thorn bush from the ground, it is a reminder of sin and its punishment. However, 2,000 years after the curse was given, Jesus Christ was born, a pure and spotless Lamb, to take the punishment for sin (Isaiah 53) and become a curse for us (Galatians 3:3). Wow! What else did He do?? He wore a crown…. of thorns!!! (John 19:1-3).
Thought for today
What an amazing, symbolic act – Jesus turning the curse of sin upon Himself and willingly taking the symbol of the curse – thorns – and allowing them to be poked and jabbed and stabbed into His skin, causing blood to flow, as He “who knew no sin becameΒ sin for us, that we might becomeΒ the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This was not a random act nor a coincidence. The act of taking the symbol of the curse upon Himself was intentional and deliberate – an open display of the curse He was about to break through His death and resurrection. Satan thought he had hurt God with that initial act of tempting God’s people to sin, and has operated under that same motivation ever since – to hurt God by harming those made in His image and trying to tempt them into hell, but the joke is on him! Jesus Christ came in, took those thorns and broke the curse, reconciling us to God forever! THAT’S WHY I WORSHIP! <3
