Father, May I? – Immeasurable – May 4

Father, May I Be Anxious?
May 4, 2021

Immeasurable

Isaiah 55:20-22, ‘I was betrayed by my friend, though I lived in peace with him. While he was stretching out his hand of friendship, he was secretly breaking every promise he ever made to me! His words were smooth and charming. Yet his heart was disloyal and full of hatred—his words soft as silk while all the time scheming my demise. So here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Leave all your cares at the feet of Jesus and measureless grace will strengthen you.’ (TPT)

Have you ever had it happen? Betrayed by someone you considered vital to your life? Maybe it was a best friend, perhaps a sibling. A co-worker? It might have even been your spouse, the person you thought you would grow old rocking in a chair next to. Possibly it was your parent or one of your children…all your children? Regardless of who, it obviously was a very dear and important relationship if the word ‘betrayal’ is pondered. I am unsure that a betrayal can occur unless it happens in the context of relationship. You don’t feel betrayed by an enemy, right? you already expected as much. People feel betrayed when someone put their self out there and the other person did as well, and an unfaithfulness occurred, a violation of trust took place, someone was let down, hung out to dry, exposed, secrets divulged, abandonment followed. Usually, a betrayal is the last straw and annihilates the relationship, but, in truth, it has been happening for a long time as the relationship broke apart. Even if a betrayal happened at the hands of a lust-filled affair which culminated in a one-night faux pas, it didn’t just take place that night—it reached a crescendo that night, but it had been heading there for a period of time; the period of time it took to send some secret texts and hidden winks and imagined fantasies and forbidden rendezvous. Betrayal occurs over time but ends immediately, in cataclysmic and earth-shattering heartbreak, and changes a person usually for a lifetime.

Jesus was betrayed too. He was betrayed by a best friend whom He even knew would betray Him, three times in fact, before the day dawned. He was betrayed by the religious sect that preached a hypocritic message. He was betrayed by followers and a way of life and everyone He ever touched or healed. In fact, Jesus is still betrayed everyday by those of us who profess to love Him and serve Him religiously (LOL) forever. But He also tasted a betrayal of the harshest kind, a betrayal that signed His death warrant with a kiss and handed down a death sentence for crimes He didn’t commit, but were in actuality, committed by the very ones who betrayed Him, for whom He took the penalty. He received no offer of pardon or clemency and it was His death penalty that redeemed mine from the pit. In a sense, Jesus was even betrayed by His own Father, as His Father had to turn His back on Him for just a moment because His righteousness could not look upon the unrighteousness of man which Jesus took upon Himself in order to save us back to His Father. Jesus understands all there is to understand about betrayal.

So as a mental list of betrayals play through your mind, as happens late at night or when times are most lonely, remember you have a Savior Who knows the grief of betrayal, and Who of anyone, understands the magnitude of its cost, and then trust Him with the load you carry. You can set it at His feet and walk away, and immeasurable grace of the forgiveness He has for you will follow you always.

I want to know the Father’s opinion about everything!
Won’t you JOURNEY with me this month as we ask our Father, ‘MAY I?’’