Psalm 22:1 has always been hard for me to read. The cry of "
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?" (NLT) . These are the prophetic words written by David hundreds of years before Jesus Christ cried out as an urgent appeal to God when He hung on the cross and carried our burden of sin. His words exemplify the brokeness of heart in the depth of great sorrow, adversity and trial. As I read them the realization of my own sinfulness overwhelms me; and yet inspires me to live in faithful obedience and reject my sinful nature. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there". Gal 5:24 This is the experiential outworking of our faith. I, for one, have not reached the point of complete death to self. We are called on to crucify the sinful nature, which means that I, at least, am facing an ongoing painful future, until the Lord takes me home to glory.
This raises an interesting question: How do we crucify ourselves? We can nail our feet to the cross, metaphorically speaking, and then one hand, and then what? We will need help with that third nail. And help is what God promises, through the Holy Spirit. He is working every circumstance to bring you and I to an end of ourselves. Every tough experience we go through is Him, helping us with our problem of needing to die to self. May God reign in me today.
