HOW DID YOU SEE GOD THIS WEEK AS YOU FOLLOWED HIM?
WHAT DID GOD SAY IN HIS WORD?
Opening Question:
When was a time when you or someone you loved was sick and you prayed for healing? Have you prayed for healing for things other than sicknesses?
Isaiah’s prophecy about God’s servant showed us that we would be healed by his wounds. Let’s read it again:
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-- every one-- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Reflect Together:
Does it sound like people will recognize the Lord’s servant? Why or why not? If people weren’t going to recognize the servant at first, why do you think God chose to send him in this way?
Isaiah says that the servant has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (53:4). How does a person bear another person’s griefs? How does this apply to Jesus?
WHAT DID GOD SAY TO ME THROUGH HIS WORD?
The scripture says people don’t see the servant because he is unimpressive, not beautiful, and characterized by sorrow and grief. When you look for God’s work, do you first try to look for ways he has brought you comfort, health, or wealth? What does the nature of the servant have to tell us about where we might find God’s work?
What longings for healings do you have today? How does Jesus’s suffering on your behalf make a difference in those longings?
