~Trusty Joyfully~: "All that leads a heart to knowing" ~ Word Wednesday

This past year has been a year of exploration for me. Part of what I explored was the concern if it was "good" for me to create... crafts, projects and art. It took quite a bit of time for some of my pieces, it created messes around the house and sometimes it made me lose track of what I SHOULD be doing. Or so I thought.

One thing I shared with another artsy mama friend was that it struck me that God created everything. And, every time he created something he looked at it and then declared it good. So, in my own way I looked at each thing I created and tried to decide if it was good. Not good as in "Will it sell and make me lots of money?", rather good as in "Does this honor God either in the making or the product..."

At the same time the girls and I began reading through Isaiah. I wanted them to understand that God's plans have been set from even before the beginning of time. He sent many prophets over hundreds of years to share His message with the world. My hope was to reach Isaiah 52 by the Christmas week... I wanted them to understand the meaning of Christmas. Not just joy and love and a baby in a manger, but God incarnate, come to earth, born in order to die. For us. For the ones He has chosen. He didn't come to "live a good life" or be a "good teacher" he came to call us to repentance and to provide a means of grace by which our poor wretched sinful souls might enter Heaven.

So, while I was creating and thinking these thoughts one of my pieces "created itself." The words on it are : "All that leads a heart to knowing..." referring to our one True God. The tag, "Inspire" was to remind us that God is the one who "inspires" us... who causes us to believe, trust, understand and obey.

I saw the heart already adhered to the bottle and realized it would have to show through all the layers of whatever I used. Our hearts are not golden by any means, so it would have to represent Christ. But, what I had to show was that God's chosen people were confused because they expected Messiah to come and save them... from the Romans. They wanted a glorious and powerful king... at least they wanted someone who LOOKED and ACTED like a glorious and powerful king. An earthly king. And they received Jesus... humble beginnings, never very comely, certainly not adorned as anyone of wealth and power, and yet underneath the humble everyday trappings was the heart that makes all hearts beat, the heart that calls to ours, that very heart which bled and died for our sins.

Isaiah 53
The Suffering Servant

1Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
he chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
and by His scourging we are healed.
6All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.