Dislocated Joints

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine took a bad fall as she was leaving book club one night (yes, this is what happens to folks my age! We fall walking down the sidewalk rather than flying down the ski slope or parasailing in the tropics!). She dislocated her shoulder, and she said it was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. Now mind you, she has had 5 children, so she knows a thing or two about pain! Moreover, she is one strong, athletic woman who played varsity basketball at UNC, so her pain threshold is far higher than average Joe's like me. She said the pain literally knocked her off her feet, and it was so intense that she could not even think or speak. One dislocated shoulder.

Then suddenly the other day it hit me: all His joints were dislocated. Psalm 22 prophesied the horrific crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Apparently, the words of the Psalmist accurately predicted and portrayed what would happen in this Roman form of capital punishment--from raging fever to severe dehydration to the effect on the heart and on and on. But listen to Ps.22:14 "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint."

Somehow that aspect of suffering slipped by me, since I was ignorant concerning the horrible pain resulting from a dislocated joint. My dear friend was in agony from one dislocated shoulder. My Saviour had every bone out of joint while He hung on the cross. And unlike my friend, He had already endured hours of scourging, beating, and abuse. He had been betrayed by His friends and humiliated and taunted by His enemies. And He, who had never known sin in His whole life, bore the awful, unimaginable weight of every sin that had ever been or would ever be committed, in His nail scarred, battered, bruised body.

And add to all that, the pain of dislocated joints. For you. For me. And I had never thanked Him for that. Such is the depth and breath and length and height of His love for us. Thank You Lord Jesus for bearing my sin on the cross. I cannot imagine Your pain...but O how I thank You. To You be the glory forever.