Today’s scripture: Isaiah 53:1-6 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
Isaiah 53:4a: “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…”
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Brent Walsh):
As a preacher’s kid, I’ve heard today’s scripture many times in sermons and Sunday school. I’ve always known the context of the passage, but I had never really stopped to contemplate the meaning of it until it was practically played out before my eyes.
My wife Julie Benson and I drive an 18-wheeler. One day last summer I awoke from a deep sleep to find Julie pulling the rig off to the side of a busy, three-lane highway. I had taken cold medicine the night before, so I felt disoriented coming out of drug-induced sleep. I had been sleeping in the back of the cab where it was completely dark, so with the opening of the curtains, my eyes were desperately trying to adjust to the bright intrusion of daylight. What I saw through squinted eyelids was Julie jumping out of the cab and running along the side of our truck against three lanes of traffic. This was such an odd thing to wake up to that I didn’t know for sure if I was indeed awake or having a bizarre dream.
Yet there we were on the side of the road, our truck rocking with the passing of other vehicles driving at dizzying speeds. Julie was behind our truck now, perched on her toes like an athlete in a relay race, ready to leap into action at just the right moment. When traffic cleared, she bolted into the roadway with her hand in the air, in an attempt to make herself as visible as possible to any additional traffic. The next cluster of cars and trucks was about a half mile down the road, so she was not in any immediate danger as long as she kept moving.
In an attempt to make sense of everything, I thought she might be trying to retrieve something from the median. But then she stopped in the far left lane and bent down. As she did, a tiny figure darted away from her, across the lanes the Julie had just crossed. The oncoming traffic was still approaching fast. I was to find out later that a tiny kitten had been crouching down, injured, helpless, and petrified, on the dotted line of this interstate, and Julie was trying to rescue it! When she bent down to scoop it up, it fled from her in a panic.
The kitten was able to make it across the road before the oncoming traffic reached it, but Julie was not so lucky.
She only made it back across one lane before traffic reached her, which meant she was trapped between lanes. Watching from the truck, my heart stopped. I suddenly forgot about my drowsiness and the sunlight as I saw traffic overcome her and she disappeared between two speeding semi trucks. Essentially, Julie had just traded places with a terrified, wounded kitten on the dotted line of a busy highway!
When the two trucks passed, I was almost afraid to look. But there she was, still standing resolute on the dotted line with her hand at her brow, blocking the light from her eyes as she tried to keep track of the kitten. She seemed unphased by the traffic that had just swallowed her! I, on the other hand, was in the truck pulling on clothes any way they would fit in an effort to get out to where she was. I swore that if the traffic didn’t get her, I would surely strangle her when I got my hands on her!
When traffic cleared, she rushed across the remaining lane and crouched down on hands and knees. When the kitten had darted across the road, it hid itself in a small gap under a concrete barrier. The kitten hissed and spat in fear, clawing and scratching, but Julie would not give up. She clutched the shivering animal around the torso and, as gently as possible, maneuvered it out from under the barrier. When Julie stood and turned around with the kitten in her arms, I was running up to her with another motorist who had seen the commotion and stopped. The other man was from the area and offered to take the kitten to a local vet to be examined. Julie handed him the kitten and we breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was safe. We exchanged numbers, and the man sped away with his frightened cargo.
When we got back into the truck, I sat in the passenger seat and just stared out the window. Julie was fine, but I was in shock. My mind replayed the whole scene over and over, attaching different endings to the scenario. I wasn’t angry, but I couldn’t get over how much danger she had just put herself into for the sake of a kitten! I love kittens, but I was not willing to trade Julie’s life for that of any creature!
When I got over wanting to strangle her, I started to reflect more clearly on what she had done. I kept thinking about how Jesus essentially did the same thing for us. He saw us, helpless, wounded, and trapped, and without regard to the danger, he put himself on the dotted line. We may not know or recognize him. We may run away in panic. We may hiss and spit, claw and scratch, but Jesus will never give up trying to rescue us.
Thought for the day: How do I respond to the love of God? Do I welcome it, or, like the kitten, fight and run in fear?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.
Epilogue: We received a phone call later that day from the man who had taken the kitten. The x-rays showed that a front leg was dislocated at the shoulder. There were also some cuts and scrapes, but no internal bleeding or other serious injury. The kitten was going to be just fine, thanks to Julie, and the man would make sure the kitten got a good home.