Our Secret Place

Meditations for Ragamuffins 

March 6, 2024

Our Secret Place

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

    His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness;

    his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT 

There are some who believe that because Jesus was the fully divine Son of God, he was able to endure the hardships he faced, even the scourging that he suffered before his crucifixion. I don’t think so. Our understanding of Jesus is paradoxical because Jesus is both fully divine and fully human. For his divinity to enable him to endure suffering would mean that his divinity trumped his humanity, which means he isn’t fully human. Stay with me on this because this isn’t just a meaningless theological puzzle. The answer has huge implications for our lives.

How then was Jesus able to endure his sufferings? Scripture answers this question: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2b). What does this mean, “the joy set before him?” The writer of Hebrews answers this by telling us, “Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne” (Hebrews 12:2c NLT). But I think the more important question is, how did Jesus know he was destined to be seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty?

I believe Jesus knew his destiny because every time the Pharisees plotted against him, every time his followers shifted their allegiance, when one disciple denied him and another disciple betrayed him, every time the soldiers slapped and spit on him, every time the soldier drew back his whip and hammer, Jesus went to his secret place. Jesus withdrew into himself, where alone with his Abba, he could commune with the One who had begotten him. In these private moments, Jesus’ consciousness of his identity as the Son of God, Messiah, increased, as did his commitment to pray, “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42 NRSV).

My Takeaway: As disciples of Jesus, we too are the beloved children of God, and we have a calling to seek the life in Christ as our way of life. As followers of Jesus, we are to bear witness to the love of God in this world so that those to whom God is a stranger will find in us generous friends. How do we keep our heart set on our goal, the joy that God has set before us? By frequently retreating to our secret place where we can commune with God, and hear Him again and again reaffirm who we are:

“You are my beloved, with whom I am delighted and upon whom my favor rests.”

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.