He Showed His Power by Restraining His Power

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks so much for stopping by to have coffee with me and for more of this series that has everything to do with Easter, which is only a part of the Salvation Story. Grab your Red Strand of Faith and your coffee, and let’s go chat about more of the facts that prove His power was demonstrated in His restraint of power.
Many of us are aware of what the prophets foretold of His sufferings and I have read many of them, and more than once. However, I was not able to imagine even an inch of the depth of His suffering and how much all the events leading up to His crucifixion cost Him … until I watched The Passion of the Christ.
I remember watching it as if it were just a few days ago. We went with a church group, like one big family. I had heard it was pretty tough to watch, but I had no idea what I was in for. There were so many times I gripped my honey’s arm, or pulled at his shirt and even squeezed the blood to the surface of his hands as I dared to sit through it. But there were also times where I turned my head away, unable to watch such infliction, especially as I realized, and continue to realize that I was, and unintentionally at times continue to be, part of reason for that affliction.
“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”… (Isaiah 53:5)
I don’t know about you, but I am more of a visual, hands-on kind of learner. I need to see what I’m hearing, reading, learning; but oh, my goodness isn’t it hard to imagine all of that physical pain? We need to understand that though the physical pain was immeasurable, it wasn’t just physical; it was emotional and very spiritual! He took that emotional pain that we could, that we would have emotional and spiritual healing … eternally!
Why? Why would God allow such pain and sacrifice? I have come to the truth that God’s plan all along was about relationship with each one of us, now and eternally. He doesn’t need us; He WANTS us! His restraint of power continues to show His power!
Let’s look at the very first restraint of power in Genesis after the temptation and fall of man: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the Garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
Picture this: the very first sin has been committed. SIN has entered all of us. God is still pursuing man despite man! He could have screamed, yelled, beaten, even killed them but instead, His first response to the sin … a restraint of power!
Let’s bring that in a little closer to home: When someone sins against you, what is your first reaction? If it is someone that God has allowed you to be over in the sense of responsibility, or someone that God has called you to lead, i.e. parent, in ministry, as a mentor or accountability partner, what kind of power do you demonstrate when you are hurt by their actions?
I don’t know about you, but my heart yearns for that meekness, that power in control that allows me to love despite being unloved, to offer healing despite being hurt, to repay evil with kindness, to forgive though not forgiven by them.
Could it be that power is best displayed by surrendering to His power?
Join me tomorrow for the conclusion.
Holding on to His power and gripped by His grace

Evinda