Threads in God's Story: Reconciliation

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

-       Isaiah 53:4-6

This week’s big question: If we come to Scripture so that God can help us find our story in his great big story… what story is he telling, anyway?

The third thread found throughout the story of Scripture is that of reconciliation, a setting right of our relationship with God, a healing of that core brokenness in our lives.  In today’s passage, before reconciliation we’re described with words like: pain, suffering, transgression, iniquity, NOT at peace, NOT healed, confused and scattered like lost sheep.  And then – this special person who takes up our burdens, who suffers for our sake.  Then mercy – then grace.  Through Jesus, we can experience peace, we can experience healing.

Would you take a few minutes to read this passage over again, asking God to help you notice any words or phrases that especially speak to you this morning?  Perhaps you’d like to personalize a phrase (for example, “Jesus, by your wounds I’m healed”) and spend a little more time asking God to show you where that is, or could be, true in your life.