Lay It Down — Small Stories of a Big God

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV

These are not the thoughts we run to embrace. Pain and suffering. This song, these words, brought me up short this week as Pandora played and I edited. I stopped immediately and let these words of Lauren Daigle’s song wash over me and soothe my soul. “Lay it down…Oh Lord, I lay it down.” How perfectly appropriate to sit in these thoughts of surrender this week as Jesus walked steadfastly, unwavering to his cross.

This favored Son, who could multiply fish and loaves to feed thousands, who could quiet the storm with a word, who could open the eyes of the blind with a touch, and who could bring life back to a child with a prayer, could have certainly walked away from unnecessary pain and suffering. But that is the problem, I think. The pain was necessary. It was the only reality, the only solution.

In this temporary world, we are being convinced that pain is negotiable. We can cure it, dull it, or medicate it away. Certainly, no one is raising their hand to take on the sharp cut, the broken bone, or the shattered heart. But this world holds a harshness that is unavoidable—we will be broken and poured out.

God warned us. The evil one deceived us. And death won a victory. But Jesus. Jesus did what we could not do – with all our avoidance schemes and medication prescriptions. We seek strength and longevity. Jesus gave us a cross instead. It seemed like death at the time. But there goes Jesus, once again doing the impossible. He accepted the pain. He accepted the suffering. He laid everything down. And took up life where death had previously reigned.

I hope you will be stopped and stilled over these days of pain and death. Because that is not the end of the story. As the song goes, “There is victory in the Savior’s loss.” He surrendered to death – even death on a cross. May he help us surrender our life to him. And lay it all down.

God I give You all I can today
These scattered ashes that I hid away
I lay them all at Your feet

From the corners of my deepest shame
The empty places where I've worn Your name
Show me the love I say I believe

Oh Help me to lay it down
Oh Lord I lay it down

Oh let this be where I die
My lord with thee crucified
Be lifted high as my Kingdom's fall
Once and for all, once and for all

There is victory in my Saviors loss
And In the crimson flowing from the cross
Pour over me, pour over me yes

Oh let this be where I die
My lord with thee crucified
Be lifted high as my Kingdom's fall
Once and for all, once and for all

Lauren Daigle Once and For All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iItYCguD7E

Songwriters: Lauren Ashley Daigle / Paul Brendon Mabury / Paul T. Duncan

1885, Jesus' descent from the cross, lithograph, antique colored lithograph, after Gustav Doré