History records that the Roman soldiers often played a game with their prisoners. They would strip them of their clothing, dress them in one of their red outer robes, twist together a crown of thorns, and place a staff in their hands, for a scepter. Then they would then take turns rolling the dice, and the prisoner “king” would move around a game board etched in the floor. To entertain the crowds, they would hurl verbal and physical abuse at the mock king.
Does this sound familiar?
Consider these verses: “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ They said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” (Matt 27:26-31 NIV)
Such treatment would be humiliating for any of us, wouldn’t it. And we aren’t even rightful kings. But Jesus IS the rightful king! Imagine the mental and emotional anguish this activity must have caused our Lord and Savior!
But let’s think a little farther. How many times do we find ourselves partaking in a game of “mock King”?
Never?
Are you sure?
How many times do we want Jesus to do our will? We pray and we plead for help, and we get upset, often at Him, when things don’t go our own way!
You know what I mean, friends. We think we need to live in a better place, but we don’t have the means. We pray and pray, and nothing happens! Why isn’t God hearing and answering our prayers?
Or we pray for God to change our spouses. And we pray and pray, to no avail. He or she doesn’t change. Can’t God see how we are suffering? Can’t He see that just a little change in attitude on the part of our spouses would make things so much better?
Or we believe that the answer to all our problems lies in getting INTO a good relationship. We pray and pray to meet the right guy or girl, and nothing happens. Doesn’t God want us to be happy?
Or we have our lives all planned, down to a “T”. But a loss of a job or the death of a loved one strips all of our plans. Couldn’t God have preserved our plans? Couldn’t He have preserved our jobs or the lives of our loved one? Doesn’t He care?
And what do we tend to do in these situations? We become disillusioned. We begin to doubt the power of prayer. We begin to doubt that God even cares!
But what if we’re praying for our OWN will to be done instead of His?
When we do this, we are, in essence, trying to prance Jesus around a game board of our own design, one that will not bring us happiness, but will ultimately lead to our own ruin!
Take a step back, friends! Sometimes He puts us in hard places because He has important lessons in humility, unconditional love, and unconditional trust to teach us! Lessons that we couldn’t learn in any other way! Maybe we are living in that bad place to teach us to love unconditional, to teach us to forgive those who have hurt us? What if it isn’t our spouses who need to be changed, but rather God is trying to teach us to be tolerant and patient? What if God is trying to show us that it is US who are being selfish? And what if God knows that the good relationship we desire will only work to keep us from depending upon Him? And what if our own plans for our lives will only lead us down the path of destruction?
We are not all wise, friends, but God is! We cannot see all things, but He does! And more than that, He loved us enough to have died for us!
Isn’t that enough proof of His ultimate love?
Let’s stop trying to prance Jesus around the “game board” that we’ve constructed for our lives! Let’s believe that God truly knows best, and that He really does have our best interest in heart! Let’s embrace the truth of James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (NIV)
Please join us next Saturday during this Lenten season for THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST, Part 6: Carrying the Cross!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
[1] http://www.apologeticspress.com/articles/2223
(To access the entire “The Sufferings of Jesus: A Lenten Series” mini-series, please click here.)