Yesterday's devotional encourages us to look at the Light of God whilst reminding ourselves that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and our sicknesses, rather than us looking away from Him and at our sins and sicknesses instead. As it happened, after recording yesterday, I went into work and started feeling unusually ill. The morning message helped me to remember to look at Jesus and not at my illness. By the evening I felt so much better. I know it is not necessarily aa simple as that but today, whilst praying, I reflected further on how Jesus died for us, undergoing horrific torture meted out by the Roman soldiers. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born Prophet Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem out of the tribe of Judah. All that Isaiah prophesied came to pass. Another point He prophesied was that by the whippings, the stripes Jesus received, we are healed (See Isaiah 53:5). The flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution. After being completely stripped and with hands tied to an upright post, the victim was whipped by 2 men with a scattering of leather thongs. These had small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones at the end which ripped into the back, buttocks and legs to damage right through to the muscles, producing "quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh". Crucifixion was designed by the Romans to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering. (from cbcg.org/scourg). Jesus suffered all this in silence as an innocent man so that he could take our suffering of sickness and sin. This goes back to the light of God. Look at what Jesus endured for us and then He will light up your situation with His goodness and healing.
