The Story
INSPIRATION BEHIND TOLA
A while back I heard a teaching on Psalm 22 that completely changed the way I looked at
Christ’s Sacrifice.
Like many people, whenever I thought about Psalm 22, my mind immediately went to its opening words…
"MY GOD, MY GOD
WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKE ME"
Psalm 22:1
Those were the words I always associated with Psalm 22 and If I’m being honest,
I never really kept reading.
Then the teaching pointed out something I had never considered.
When Jesus cried those words from the cross,
He was quoting the opening of Psalm 22.
Then my attention was directed to a verse just a few lines below and I honestly don’t remember ever reading before.
"BUT I AM A WORM
AND NOT A MAN."
Psalm 22:6
That verse had always been there, I
just never noticed it.
In Psalm 22:6, the Hebrew word
translated as “Worm” is
TOLA
a very specific crimson worm.
WHAT I HEARD NEXT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS.
The teacher shared an illustration about the Crimson Worm that beautifully reflected Christ’s Sacrifice.
When the time comes for the Crimson Worm to give life to the next generation, she climbs onto the trunk of a tree and permanently attaches herself to the wood.
Her decision is Final.
She will never come down alive.
Beneath the protection of her body, her young are born and for the next three days, they are sustained by the life of their mother.
Then she gives up her life. As she dies, a deep crimson stain is left upon the wood.
In time, that crimson fades to white.
THE ULTIMATE
SACRIFICE
The only way for the worm’s
offspring to live ...
WAS FOR THE
MOTHER TO DIE.
Then she said something that has stayed with me ever since ...
“THE ONLY WAY
FOR US TO LIVE...
WAS FOR
CHRIST TO DIE.”
That’s the moment everything
changed for me.
For days after hearing that teaching,
I couldn’t stop thinking about one thing ...
HOW INCREDIBLE
IS IT THAT
THE CREATOR OF
THE UNIVERSE
The One Who Created the Crimson Worm…
The One Who Created You…
The One Who Created Me…
Would Willingly
Step Into His
Own Creation
And Become
The Sacrifice
For It.
I don’t know if I’ll ever read
Psalm 22 the same way again.
Because the more I reflected on that story,
the more it pointed me back not to the worm but to ...
JESUS
The Crimson Worm wasn’t the point. It simply pointed me back to the greatest story ever told. The story of a Savior who willingly laid down His life so that we could live.
That’s what stayed with me.
That’s why this shirt exists.
Not to celebrate a Crimson Worm but to celebrate the One who it reminded me of.