Scripture Fulfilled.

Matthew 26:54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must come about this way?

This scripture may be an odd thing for me to write about, but this scripture, this verse, is a verse I am struggling with deeply.

The Scriptures can, I believe have many meanings.  They can be a literally meaning, such as the Scriptures in the Bible, but I believe it can also have a looser translation, and can be referring to one’s life.

Now, I am not comparing my life to the Bible, so let’s get that out of the way, but what I am doing is, showing how the word Scripture can be a broader scope than what we tend to give it. 

I think we all have Scriptures for our lives.  Our lives have already been written out for us, the beginning, the middle and the end, and they have been penned by God Himself, so they can be Scriptural.  

So… this verse can be talking personally about your own life.  Your own calling.  Your own walk with God.

I have been struggling with the calling I believe God has put on my life, or has asked me to do for Him, and how this will all come together.   In reading Matthew 26:54 I see that something, or many something’s ,need to happen to bring about the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

In this particular case, the Scripture is being referred to as Jesus’s accent to the Cross.  We are seeing in chapter 26 Judas betray Him and the last meal that He spent with His disciples, and how He called Judas out as the one who was betraying Him.

We see so beautifully that Jesus was deeply troubled and even in 26:37 we see that He (Jesus) began to show grief and distress of mind and was deeply depressed. 

Deeply Depressed… Jesus… Deeply Depressed.

Jesus was so moved and pained by what He knew was coming upon Him that He was deeply depressed.  I don’t know about you but truly, that shocked me.  To think of my Lord and Savior, the one who so courageously shed His blood for me, and to think He was deeply depressed, moves me.

Jesus walked with twelve but inside that twelve He had His inner circle.  He had the ones He chose to reveal even more of Himself to than He was to the rest of the world.  He pulled Peter, James and John aside and asked them to come with Him, while He dealt with His emotions.

I would love to stop there and discuss the emotions, and how Jesus dealt with them, but I know that is not my purpose today.  But please don’t overlook that part of the chapter.

He brought them in not only for support, but also for protection, physically and spiritually.  I also believe that He pulled those three out from the rest because He knew that the cup they were going to carry once He was gone was hard, and He wanted to show them, by example, how to deal with their emotions.

On three separate occasions, three separate prayer times, Jesus asked God, His Father, to remove this cup from Him.  To allow the pain and weight of this call to be removed from Him and passed on to another.  Jesus, I believe, begged God to help Him, to release Him from His duties and calling.

But…But.

We also see that each time Jesus called out to God for relief He also followed it up with, but if this is your will.  If this is what you have for me.  I will do it!

Fast forward through a couple verses and we come back to Matthew 26:54  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must come about this way?

There are many… many times, I have been on my face yelling at God to take this cup from me.  To remove this thorn in my side, as Paul requested, to relieve me of the calling He has put on my life.  

Many times!

He never has.  Just as He didn’t for Jesus, he hasn’t for me.  And I believe the reason why God hasn’t taken away my pain, thorn or cross, is because how will my Scriptures be fulfilled if He did.

We are all called.  We are all chosen.  We are all selected.  The difference, and I am learning this the hard way, is not all of us stand up.  Not all of us accept the calling that has been given to us, and not all of us finish the race.

I truly struggle with this, as I don’t believe I was ever given the chance to say no, nope, I am not going to do this, I am going to continue being me, and live my life without the thorn in my side.  

But you see, neither did Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t given the chance to decide if He was going to save the world.  He just knew.   He knew inside Himself that He was called, chosen and selected.  He knew that His purpose was bigger than Himself.  He knew He was needed, which means that pain that He was feeling was worth the Scriptures being fulfilled.

As I said earlier, we all have burdens, thorns, broken hearts, empty wallets or deeply depressed souls, but we all have also been called, chosen and selected.

We all have a Scripture.  Maybe, well most likely at this point, our stories aren’t gonna make it into the Bible, but that doesn’t make them any less needed or painful.

Granted, I am never going to be an Abraham, David or Paul but I am still called and chosen to be a disciple of God’s.   My Scripture is still needed to help this world find Jesus.  To help people find their Savior.

I might never walk on water like Peter, or bring life back to a dead body like Paul, but I can bring people to Jesus, or bring Jesus to the people.

My Scripture, though it is causing me tremendous pain mentally, spiritually and physically right now, is worth this season, because I know the good that will come from this time, will have an effect on the world.

My life, and yours, will have an effect on the world.  You will leave a ripple behind you, every day of your life, and your ripple or your Scripture is needed!   It’s needed desperately and will be revealed at the right time.

Your Scripture, my Scripture, just like Jesus’s Scripture, will be fulfilled.  We need to lay back, relax, and allow God to take that thorn that’s been stuck in you for years, that anger, that addiction, that hurt, and that abuse, and allow God to turn it into good for the world to see. 

The pain I am going through right now, and the pain you are going through right now, is all happening so one day our Scriptures can also be fulfilled!!