He Will Come to Me

In the worship service at our church yesterday we sang a song that was new to me titled Jesus, Strong and Kind. I’ll paraphrase the first three verses and the chorus.

When I am thirsty Jesus said I should come to him and he will satisfy me.

When I am weak Jesus said I should come to him and he will be my strength.

When I am afraid Jesus said I should come to him and he will be my shield.

We can always run to Jesus because he is good and faithful, he is strong and kind.

I loved this image. Jesus is good and faithful, strong and kind. He will always welcome me and help me when I come to him. Beautiful. Encouraging. But what really moved me was the last verse.

Jesus said if I am lost,

he will come to me.

And he showed me on that cross,

He will come to me.

When my faith is wobbly, when doubts fill my heart, when I am stumbling, once again, into sin, if I will just turn toward the good and faithful, strong and kind Jesus, he will be my help. But even more so, when I am down and out, when I cannot pick myself up, when I am so lost that I am not able to turn toward him, he will come to me. He will not leave me. He will come to me.

I recently read Dane Ortland’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Unpacking Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,” Orland wrote, “When Jesus tells us what animates him most deeply, what is most true of him—when he exposes the innermost recesses of his being—what we find there is: gentle and lowly. Who could have ever thought up such a Savior?”

But what about when I am wobbly, doubting, stumbling, lost? What about then? Is Jesus gentle and lowly toward me then? Ortland quoted the great Puritan preach Thomas Goodwin, “Our sins move him not to anger but to pity…he suffers with us in our infirmities and sins, Christ takes part with you…he is not provoked against you, his pity toward you is increased, even as a father is to a child taken with some loathsome disease.”

Ortland continued, “your sins evoke his deepest heart for you, his compassion and pity. He is on your side. He sides with you against your sin. He hates your sin, but he loves you.”

Jesus is a good shepherd who goes after the one lost sheep “until he finds it” (Luke 15:4-4). He is the woman who seeks “diligently until she finds” her lost coin (Luke 15:8) He is the welcoming father who runs, embraces, and kisses his wayward son (Luke 15:20).

Yes, Jesus is good and faithful. He is strong and kind. He will come to me. He will come to you. He will come to all those who belong to him.

Much love,

Barry