Welcome to Kendra Graham’s online Bible study. This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!
Kendra Graham notes from Isaiah 53:3-4
WHAT DOES IT SAY? THE FACTS ONLY PLEASE.
In this step you need to list the outstanding facts of the passage. DON’T get caught up in the details, just list the facts. Do not paraphrase. Use the actual words of the passage. This is God’s Word, a lot of times this step seems tedious to some, but I urge you, as we read, and say and write God’s Word, it begins to sink deep into our hearts. If you just pick one fact out of the verse, write it down and meditate on it.
FACTS:
Verse 3a: He was despised and forsaken of men.
Verse 3b: Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Verse 3c: From whom men hide their face.
Verse 3d: Despised, we did not esteem Him.
Verse 4a: Our griefs He bore, our sorrows He carried.
Verse 4b: We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, afflicted.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? THE LESSONS.
Look for a lesson to learn from each fact. What are the people doing that they should be doing? What are the people doing that they shouldn’t be doing?
Is there a command to follow? A promise to claim? A warning to heed? An example to follow?
LESSONS:
Verse 3a: God came personally to live among us with skin on, His name is Jesus. God loved us so much that He refused to trust us to another, so He came personally to fix the gap that was in our relationship, which is sin. God refused to reject us, even though we find it so easy to reject Him. In this world there is no other name that brings such emotion than the name of Jesus. It is not in us to run to God, it is in us to hide from God and to shake our fists at God, to despise Him and reject Him… “So He came, while we were still enemies, and loved us, and gave Himself for us.” Romans 5:8 God loves us first. We were created to walk with Him, know Him and need Him, so Jesus would go the distance to make that which we were created to do a possibility…
Verse 3b: Jesus knows what it is to be broken, to feel hurt, loss and pain. Jesus understands my intense hurt and pain because He experienced it to a degree I will never have to feel. Jesus is compelled to compassion for His hurting handmade creation.
Verse 3c: No one wanted to be connected with Jesus. Even in the Garden of Gethsemene when Jesus was being wrongfully arrested, His closest friends scattered and refused to be connected with Him in any way. Jesus knows abandonment by His closest family and friends, and yet still, He went forth out of indescribable love to fix the gap that was between us. Oh the deep deep love of Jesus.
Verse 3d: It is so easy to get it wrong… we like things to look right and sound right, and play the part that we think they should play… yet Jesus did not “look like” “sound like” or “act like” those who were looking for the Messiah thought He should be and do. It is easy for us to reject those God accepts and visa versa. God Himself came and allowed Himself to be despised by the very creation He had come to save. He could have struck us dead with a word, yet instead, He died for us, loving us in word and deed. Oh! That we would esteem Him now by just spending time with Him in His Word.
Verse 4a: God with skin on, Jesus, took our pain and sorrows upon Himself as if they were His. Jesus took our grief and sorrow, but it remains so hard for us to release them to Him to carry, so we burden ourselves with which we were never designed to carry. We were created to need God to carry us. I love the verse in Isaiah 40:11 “He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart…” God knows often times we need to be carried, we can’t do it, so He carries us.
Verse 4b: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 God paid the price for sin, Himself. Jesus was smitten and afflicted so we wouldn’t have to be.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME NOW? APPLY IT…. TODAY.
Take the lessons you learned and put them into the form of a personal question that you would ask your spouse, or a friend or your son or daughter.
As you write the questions, listen for God to communicate to you through His Word.
*Do not rush. Do not write things down just to have something on paper, this step takes more time that you may think. This is where Scripture meditation becomes real, this is where you begin to hear that still small voice speak to you, and place His finger in your life and begin to direct your paths…. this day, and the next, and the next. Do you trust Him enough to put into place that which He is moving you to?
Verse 3a: Is your relationship personal between you and God? Are you running to God or are you running from God?
Verse 3b: Have you laid out your hurt and brokenness to Jesus, knowing He understands the pain of your heart?
Verse 3c: Will you stay close to Jesus today or scatter? Did you know He loves you either way?
Verse 3d: What do you think Jesus should do and hasn’t in your life? How has Jesus looked differently in your life than you once thought He would look? Will you esteem Jesus today by spending time with Him in His Word, asking Him to lead you?
Verse 4a: Are you needing to be carried? Did you need to know that, today, God will carry you? Did you know that God came Himself, with skin on, Jesus, not trusting you to another, so that He could bear your burdens? Will you ask God to help you release those burdens today?
Verse 4b: Will you believe Jesus came for you because of God’s great love?
LIVE IT OUT!
Hold yourself accountable to LIVE OUT in your daily life that which God impresses upon your heart. Write it out, sign it, date it and claim the transforming power of God’s Word and His presence in your life.
Spend time today with God in His Word just you and Him. We were created to walk with Him, know Him and need Him.
Homework: Isaiah 53: 10-11
Get stuck? www.annegrahamlotz.com and Anne will walk through the Three Questions with you and help you along!