What I Have Written

Oh that my words were now written!
Oh that they were printed in a book!
That they were graven with an iron pen
and engraved in the rock for ever!
Job 19:23-25

Job has been suffering. He is vocal in his pain and he has made a wish which God received as a prayer. Job has been heard...forever.

One day as John was reading Job he looked up and said, "Kathy, this is amazing. Job is pouring out his complaint and he says he wishes all of his story could be written down somewhere and it is. Job's story is in every Bible ever printed! I am holding it in my hands."

I am reminded of another inscription. It is on a hill the shape of a skull. Another man is suffering. He has an audience. It is a mixed crowd. Those who love him are stationed close enough to his pain to mix it with their own. How he suffers. How he is abused. How undeserving he is of such punishment. Above his thorn crowned head is an inscription placed there by the highest authority in the land: This is Jesus. The King of the Jews.

For the moment His Kingdom is nothing but pain. Nothing but payment of our debt. In this moment this King is our sacrifice and He is holding nothing back. Our sin and disobedience will give Him no quarter. None will be asked for. This is love poured out to the last precious drop. It falls upon my hands as I write this. Not with a pen of iron but with keystrokes that will be read around the globe seconds after I push enter.

Suffering matters to a God who bleeds. Our hard times, our painful days, our own agonies are remembered and recorded. We are never alone and although He would not save Himself, would not rise to the taunts to "Prove it" Christ will save us.

"Father, forgive them.""It is finished." These words carry such weight and power. The King has said it. Rome with her governmental authority acknowledged His kingship. The Father who put all things under His feet has acknowledged His worthiness. What will our hearts say of His right to forgive us?

Christ's words from the Cross are some of the most quoted and written about of any words in any language. The bill of our freedom has been written with iron nails, signed in the blood of our Savior and recorded in Heaven and the Library of Congress. We are free!

What will we say to the Lord today about His suffering as well as our own? Whatever you have need of He has made provision for. He has written down His love and promises in the Book of Love and engraved your precious name in gold letters on its cover.

Pilot said in response to the malicious attempts of the priests to remove the inscription above Christ's suffering head, "What I have written, I have written." He was the Roman Governor who had the weight of Rome's authority backing up his words. Greater than he is the one who stares our demons in the face and declares, "What I have written, I AM has written!"

We are free. And we will see Him. Job went on to declare, ..."For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." Ancient forms have now departed. New life and a new way of living it has come by One worthy of remembrance.

Today is a new day. Jesus has a ready pen. We are fresh paper. What will the Savior write?