By: Jane Muncie, Retired Nazarene Pastor
“When I could not go to where He was, He came to me.” – Squire Parsons.
Read this verse out loud: “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The message of the entire Bible hangs on this verse. God’s love sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to help a world in desperate need of forgiveness and freedom from our sins. Mankind needed a Savior who could redeem us from eternal death and give us eternal life.
We see humanity’s great need play out in Psalm 79. God’s people are crying to Him in anguish saying, “ . . . may Your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake” (v. 8-9).
Have you ever been desperate for God to deliver you from and forgive you of your sins? I will never forget the day of my desperation.
I simply cried out, “Jesus, help me!”, and He did. He flooded every part of me, and I stood there totally amazed at how quickly and wonderfully He came to me.
Even as I write this devotional, my soul is stirred again at the marvel of His help. Songs come to my mind like, “I’m so glad He took my sins away. He took MY sins away,” and “Redeemed and so happy in Jesus; no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His presence with me doth continually dwell.” One more: “Hallelujah! I have found Him whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfies my longings; through His blood, I now am saved.”
John tells us why God sent His one and only Son to the world: so that the world might be saved through Him! (John 3:17).
When Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came as a baby, God’s plan for the salvation of all mankind was set in motion. It was a plan that would meet our desperate need for a Savior so that we might be forgiven of and delivered from our sins.
That same forgiveness and mercy continues to meet us each and every day. All we need to do is call upon His name.
“ . . . may Your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.”