Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken / Henry F. Lyte / Mozart/ Arr. Hubert P. Main
Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition, God and Christ are still my own!
Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue;
And, while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends disown me; show Thy face, and all is bright.
Man may trouble and distress me – ‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me; Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ‘tis not in grief to harm me, while Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ‘twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.
Go then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service pain is pleasure; with Thy favor loss is gain.
I have called Thee, Abba, Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee;
Storms may howl and clouds may gather; all must work for good to me.
Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer;
God's eternal day's before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Amos 8-9 (quoting 9:11-15 NIV 1984):
“In that day I will restore
David’s fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the LORD, who will do these things.
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
I will bring back my exiled people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the LORD your God.
Ripe Fruit
Israel was ripe for harvest like ripe fruit ready to be plucked. To pluck something means “to take something away swiftly, often by means of skill or strength;” or “to pull something off or out of something else, e.g. fruit from a tree” (Encarta). Yet, this was not a joyful harvest. This was a judgment of God on his people because of their many sins. They were guilty of trampling on the needy, doing away with the poor, cheating their customers in the market place, and using dishonest measurements. They took advantage of those less fortunate than them or those who were naïve and innocent. They were exploiters of the worst kind, because they were careful to observe the religious traditions of the Jewish faith, including the Sabbath. Yet, even while they were observing these holy days, their minds were thinking ahead to when the holy days were over and how they could cheat the people.
God said he would, thus, turn their religious feasts into mourning and all their singing into weeping. The songs in the temple would turn into wailing. He would send famine throughout the land, but not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. People would wander around searching for the word of the Lord, but they would not find it. Those who put confidence in false gods and a false hope of security would fall.
James 5:1-6 says this: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.”
So, these particular sins were not peculiar to Amos’ day, or even to the times in the New Testament. These sins of mankind are still prevalent today, and exist even within the church. Yet, the encouragement here is found in this song, “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.”
Not Like Man
Jesus said that if anyone was to come after him, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Christ. To deny oneself means “to refuse to gratify your own needs or desires” (Encarta). To take up your cross daily means to daily die to sin and to self. And, to follow Christ means to walk humbly in obedience to him on a daily basis. This is what it means to come to faith in Jesus Christ, and it is what it means to live daily for Jesus Christ. We must put off our old sinful lives, be transformed by the working of the Holy Spirit within us, and put on the new self, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (see Eph. 4:17-24). This is all the working of the Spirit as we cooperate with that work.
Then, if we are mistreated, despised, forsaken, cheated, taken advantage of, trampled upon, hated, and/or shunned, we will not despair, but we will rejoice in that we are rich in Jesus Christ! We will consider our lives as nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, for whose sake we have lost all things (see Phil. 3:8). We will gladly give up our own ambitions for the sake of Christ. We will see that such suffering is sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, because he was mistreated, too. Human hearts and looks may be deceptive, but God is not like man. He is truth! Mistreatment and misfortune should always drive us into the arms of our loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, we should place our hope, strength, security and trust in none other than our Lord, knowing that he will work through these trials in our lives for our good, to make us more like Jesus.
In That Day
Judgment of God is also not something just peculiar to the Old Testament, though we definitely saw more of it in Old Testament times than what we read about in the New Testament. In the context of taking communion and the need for self-examination before we partake of the fruit of the vine and the bread, we are told that we should judge ourselves so we would not come under judgment. In that same context (see 1 Co. 11) we also learn that when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
So, we should never make light of the Lord’s discipline, and we should not lose heart when he rebukes us, “because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” So we are to endure hardship as discipline, for God is treating us like his children, which we are if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. God disciplines us “for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” [See Hebrews 12] Jesus told the church in Laodicea: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” Yet, God’s judgment on his people is always for the purpose of restoring them to a right relationship with him so that he can heal them and renew their fellowship with him.
He told Israel that he would restore David’s fallen tent. Jesus Christ came from the line of David, and we, as followers of Christ, are of Christ, so today this “tent” would be symbolic of the church (the body of Christ). Although through faith in Jesus Christ we are made right with God, we are forgiven of our sins, and we have the hope of eternity with God in heaven, still it is possible for followers of Christ to fall away from their pure devotion to Christ, and for them to need to be brought back into a right relationship with their Lord God. [See Revelation 2-3 for examples of this.] And, God will use divine discipline, if necessary, to bring his church back into fellowship with him. At that time, or “in that day” he will restore his church, he will repair the broken places of our hearts, and he will restore what was ruined by sin and by sin’s deceitfulness. Then, he will rebuild our lives the way they used to be when we first came to faith in Jesus Christ (as described in Ephesians 4:17-24). This is often called “revival.”
At that time, the people of God will experience enormous blessings from the Lord. Some people believe this type of blessing and restoration will not take place until Jesus sets up his millennial kingdom reign on the earth, yet I have seen God perform such miracles of revival in people’s hearts, including my own, and I have seen, too, him pour out his spiritual blessings into the lives of those who have been renewed and restored, including into my own life, so, to some degree, I believe this is possible right now.
We don’t have to continue in sin. Jesus came to set us free! And, there is nothing so glorious than the freedom we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that we are no longer bound by sin’s deceitfulness, but we are free to walk in humble obedience and daily fellowship with our Lord.
Praise the “I AM!” / An Original Work / February 24, 2012
Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,
Glorious in power, mighty in strength;
Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,
My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!
Perfect salvation my Lord provided
When He died for my sins on a tree;
Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,
When He arose, so I could be free!
I am so thankful for His forgiveness;
Grateful that He chose to pardon me,
Giving me new life full in His Spirit,
So I can serve Him; His servant be!
Walking in daily fellowship with Him,
Obeying Him whate’er He commands;
Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,
I will endure with Him to the end!
He gives me peace and calm reassurance
In times of sorrow, or in distress.
His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient
To meet me in my need for sweet rest.
Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.
My heart longs for You where’er I am.
Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;
Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”
http://www.godcares.tv/video/1474/Praise-the-I-AM
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