Jesus Learned Obedience

     Having recently been going through a situation in my life that is unexpectedly requiring abandonment, surrender and obedient patience, I was pretty amazed when the Lord started speaking to me about the following scripture: 

     Hebrews 5:4-10 "And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor.  He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was.  That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest.  No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, 'You are my Son.  Today I have become your Father.'  And in another passage God said to him, 'You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.'  While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could save him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.  Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.  And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek."  -NLT-

     I was just going along through my routine, actually on my way to work, when the Lord dropped the following phrase into my heart:  "Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered."  I was aware only that this was a scripture somewhere in Hebrews and as I began meditating on that phrase, the Lord began "unpacking" it off and on throughout the day, so much so that by the time I was able to get alone with the Lord, later in the day, I had to write furiously and almost ended up with writer's cramp!

     This scripture can take us by surprise.  It almost seems ridiculous that the eternal, unchanging, all-powerful Son of God would have had to learn ANYTHING, even in His human, God-man form.  But we are very matter of factly told by the authority of scripture that He did!  And upon that revelation, the glaring fact becomes that we are not above the Son of God and if He had to go through those things... *gulp*!  God will allow us experiences that not only keep our feet on the ground, as in the case of Paul's famous "thorn" experience, but will allow us these other unpleasant things to also teach us a miriad of other things including obedience.  Maturity on any front is not formed in us until, when we are in the thick of it and can say with maturity to the Lord, "Yes, Lord, it is unpleasant for me, but I know that your ways are higher than mine and I submit - teach me your ways!" 

     Only God's prescribed suffering can bring TRUE resignation to the will of God, the fruits of the Spirit, to His timing, etc.  To make my life truly become His property more and more, I have to die to self.  Dying to self is not a self discipline (though it may include that) so much as it is simply yielding to God when the process comes.  It is in those moments saying to God, "Dad, you know what is best - I choose to trust you."  Yes, we pray for deliverance, help and relief; we rise up and fight and we do all that we can do - to NOT fight it would be abnormal - as it says in the passage above, Jesus cried out to God often.  But there is, at the same time, a resignation to God's timing and will without getting upset with God, allowing doubt, allowing discouragment or walking away from God.  It is a deep seated trust in the love of our perfect Father in those times that is the pure gold that Father is looking to produce in His children.

     In v. 9 it says that, "God qualified Him" to His calling.  This is in keeping with one of my favorite quotes that is, "Whom man ordains, man must equip - whom God ordains, God must equip."  This "qualifying" of a person that God does sets them up for His ordination which in turn sets them up for, as v. 10 puts it, "God [then] designated Him to be a High Priest..." That is to say that God then appoints.  So What?  Only this - going back to v. 7, "He offered up prayers and pleadings with loud tears... and God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God."  It is scary how easy it is for us to fool ourselves into believing that the best intentions of our hearts and our mouths are actually reality.  No, we cannot possibly know the actual reality of the situation in our hearts until we enter the furnace of suffering.  But once God has brought us to the place of being the silkiest, softest, most supple clay in His hands, He now hears OUR prayers too.  Why?  Because we too have that deep reverence for God that says, "Come what may, I trust you forever - your will be done!"  When we have died to every subtle, self serving, vain thought, motive and desire (and we cannot know ourselves), then we will pray and only His desires and His prayers.  Our hearts will become so intertwined with His heart that we will have reached the place where He can in turn give us "the desires of our hearts."

     We often cry out for a solution.  God is not so interested in the solution as He is the smelting process!  He has the solution covered and it will come about in His time and in His way.  Are we willing submit to that process even as the sometimes searing pain begins to hit us? It is in answering that question that is the true measure of our level of obedience and submission.

     I Peter 4:19 - "So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, and he will never fail you."  - NLT -

-BBE-

DDAA Homepage                                                    Meditations Page