Isaiah 53: The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

Ok, so the title of this passage alone humbles me tremendously. The Suffering and Glory of the Servant. My Lord, Savior, God, Created... humbled to the position of a servant. Philippines 2:5-11 definitely needs to be inserted here:

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

How much MORE do I need to humble myself if God HIMSELF is humble enough to come down from his thrown in the form of a servant and die a thief and sinner's painful death FOR ME?! Praise God! How convicting. Hmm.

v. 3- "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
So, when I get rejected by one person, I feel like it's the end of the world. Yet, the people that The Lord created and loved rejected him wherever he went! They spit in his face and whipped him! Who am I... hmm.... who am I to think that I deserve to be treated any better? Actually, who am I that I would want to be treated any better?? Would I, being the servant of my humble, awesome God, not be honored to be a martyr and co-inheritor of both Jesus' sufferings and blessings? Also, anything that I suffer through or am tempted by is no different than what Jesus went through. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." Hebrews 4:15. I so often think that I'm the only one in the world who goes through what I go through. Poor poor pitiful me. But, the God and Savior who created me and knows me inside and out went through all of the same things... just so that he could sympathize with ME!! Wow. We really do serve an amazing amazing God!

v. 5- "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."
You can't read Isaiah 53 without pausing on verse 5. ALL of my sins and your sins were paid for through the suffering of our God! We can have peace, a relationship with the Most High, and eternal life because of this! Because Jesus CHOSE to be abused, get whipped, and die for US! Our hurts and scars and wounds are now all healed because he was hurt, scarred, and wounded in our names. There's not much more I can say, but that I'm floored and in awe. Sigh. Praise be to God!

There's so much more to soak in in this chapter, but basically I said all I can say about it. The rest is just the same amount of humility and servanthood and great love and sacrifice for His people. This is one of those chapters of the Bible that I could and probably should read as a part of my quiet time everyday! Praise be to OUR God!