You can’t change it
For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” John 19:36
I feel like I have made a lot of bad choices in my life and many times I ignored the warnings that the Holy Spirit tried to give me. As a result, I often experienced disappointments and setbacks not to mention the other lives that my choices influenced. Sometimes when I look back, I sense a sea of casualties that were left in wake of indiscretion.
The passage today helps me to not live in perpetual regrets or remorse. I know that despite everything I have done, God can still and is still turning things that happened years ago into a good work that He will do until the day it is complete. God’s plans and His design cannot be undone. No matter what destructive acts I have done in my life, God’s purpose will still be fulfilled. What He has ordered will come to pass.
I can see this so clearly in the scripture reading today. As the end of the day was coming, the custom of crucifixion was to break the criminal’s legs to speed up the execution process. Even though one of the main purposes for hanging someone on a cross was to set an example of suffering for the crime that was committed, there were times that it was necessary to end the suffering early. Because Jesus was crucified the day before Passover, it was one of those occasions. The priests did not want the bodies to be left overnight in their suffering. No one would not be responsible to discard the bodies on the Sabbath.
When the soldiers came to break the legs of the criminals, they found that Jesus had already passed. In another reference of this account, it was noted that some were surprised that He had died so quickly. (See Mark 15:44) Even though His suffering lasted most of the day, He left His body before any of His bones would have to be broken. This was no accident and verse 36 states that it was to fulfill the prophecy that none of His bones would be broken. What God had spoken centuries ago would come to pass, just as He said it would. That could not be changed. Even though it looked like Jesus was taken, beaten and hung by the authorities, it is clear that no one took His life but that He laid it down freely according to the plan, and then left it be
Today I want to encourage you that no matter what you have done in the past or what has been done to you, God can turn it all for a good work. As you commit and trust Him with every detail of your life and follow His path going forward, He will bring your life into agreement with every plan that He has established for you. His plan and His purposes will come to pass, but it is up to you to be a part of that design. Jesus obeyed and followed every detail of the blueprint and even when it looked like things were going bad, the plan of God would not be undone.
Today’s scripture reading: John 19:31-37
31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”
37 And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
The Daily Dose 