Meditation

Communion

Isaiah 53:3–6 (NASB95)

3 He was despised and forsaken of men,

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

This passage foretells what is to come at Calvary

Jesus was despised and forsaken

Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief

Jesus carried our griefs and our sorrows

Jesus suffered the wrath of God

Jesus was pierced for our transgressions

Jesus was crushed for our iniquities

It is by his wounds that we are healed

We have all sinned, but God has caused that sin to fall upon Jesus

That’s what we are remembering in communion

We remember that at Calvary, Jesus bore our sin and suffered the wrath of God meant for us on a criminal’s cross

Prayer

Tithes

Psalm 8:1–9 (NASB95)

1 O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

4 What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

We often forget what David hits home in this psalm

We look at our bank accounts and question whether God really has blessed us

When you zoom out we see that God has put us way above our station

As David says in verse 4 “What is man that You take thought of him”

The God who created the universe

Who invented gravity

Who handcrafted the planets and the stars

Who created the pathways of galaxies

He cares for us, an incredibly microscopic spec in the vast universe He made

Not only does He pay attention to us, but he gave us dominion over the vast universe he has made

We are blessed beyond comprehension, and yet we take it for granted

So we take this time to give back to God an incredibly small portion of the abundance he has blessed us with

Prayer