“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11, KJV). Lord, what is the travail of Your soul? I used to think it was Your sufferings on Calvary, the nails and the thorns. I am sure that is a very basic part of it, but I also think there is more. The mother travails to bring her baby into the world, then she travails a lot more to bring that infant to maturity. True of all mothers, but how much truer of God, who brings forth spiritual children!
I know You travail for me, Lord, but my question is: Are You satisfied with Your work? Has Your travail for me—Your crossly sufferings, Your painstaking discipline, Your heartfelt concern—been in vain? Has every correction turned out wrong? Is my heart as unmoved as when You first began to chip away at it?
You said, “Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over” (Hosea 7:8, NIV). Lord, am I, like Ephraim, an unfinished product, an embarrassment to You, a repeated failure who cannot seem to make the grade? Can You display me proudly as You did Job, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8, KJV).
I once heard a mother scold her son for a disobedience. She said to him, “How can I be so proud of you one moment and so ashamed of you the next?” That spoke to my heart. Certain words in the Bible cause me fear: “marred” (Jeremiah 18:4, KJV); “castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27, KJV); “ashamed” (1 John 2:28, KJV). These have been written, Lord, that I may take Your travail for me with utmost seriousness and realize that to be a disciple of Jesus is not playing games. But “You are my hope; O Lord God” (Psalm 71:5, Amp.) that I will “never be put to shame” (v. 1). I trust You to “increase my … honor” (v. 21) by building me into the image of Your Son.
“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Daily with the King 