By His Strips We are Healed

In the Bible study I am doing by Beth Moore, we are going through the Psalms of Accent.  I was journeying through the first part of Psalm 129;

"They have greatly oppressed me from my youth --- let Israel say ----- 

they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained victory over me.  Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.  

But the LORD is righteous; He has cut me free from the cords of the wicked." 

She then asked us to look "carefully and thoughtfully" at the passage Isaiah 51:22-23

 "Thus says your Lord, the LORD and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people; 

'See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it.  But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, 'Lie down, that we may walk over you.'  And you have laid your body like the ground, and as the street, for those who walk over."  

As I finished reading it in my NKJV I wanted to look at this passage more deeply to give it a more rounded definition.  So I looked online at some different translations of the passage and as I looked I came across one that sent chills up my arms at the truth it spoke. 

 "...Who have said to you, 'Bow down, that we may pass over'; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them that pass over."  

Whoa, the whole thing swept over me like a whirl wind.  "Bow down", the words rang relentlessly in my ears. Then it all started to become clearer and clearer.  If we are bowing down to them, our oppressors, then we are making them an idol; we are making them our masters, god, because we are not only bowing down to them we are submitting ourselves to them.  After I had grasped that thought I then began reading on as to what else Beth had to say and it couldn't have fit better.

"Beloved, we can offer our love without offering our backs.  We can offer our compassion without offering them our backs.  As you and I have taken our places on our faces, God, the righteous Father, never walks on our backs.  Christ gave His back to scourging so we, the rightful recipients of such agony, could instead receive dignity.  'By His strips we are healed."  

When we offer our backs to Him kneeling in humility before our Lord, He will not walk upon us.  Instead He lifts our heads up with His gentle hand and looks into our eyes and says, "Arise My child" and we stand with our heads held high with dignity.  For Christ has paid the price for us that we wouldn't have to bow our backs down to be walked upon.  So when we do bow down to those who oppress us and we make our bodies as the ground, as the street for them to walk upon we are, in a sense, devaluing ourselves - we are bringing ourselves to a lower standard than what our Christ has called us to be.  We are lowering our value from what God has said we are.  So let us stand with our heads held high with dignity for we are a valued child in our Heavenly Fathers eyes.