God knows you. After all, every single cell in your body was by His design. You are intentionally made and have a purpose that is as unique as your fingerprint. Isn’t it comforting to know that God not only made you...
He cares about you.
Not in a “hope everything works out” kinda way. God cares specifically...intimately... in a way that only He can.
But how? How does an infinite God know how a finite human feels pain? How can an everywhere-at-one-time God relate to how much we hurt at times?
He became one of us. He felt our pain.
He was crucified and sacrificed Himself for all of us.
John 19:28-30 “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
But Jesus’ time with us was far from over...
John 20:11-18 “Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”
All-powerful God...coming to Earth as a baby.... spending time with His creation... feeling the pains of the human condition... being nailed to a cross for the sins of the world... and walking triumphantly from a tomb three days later.
All of that so He could look into our hurting eyes and say...
I know how you feel. I felt it too.
I know what it feels like to have your friends walk away.
I know what it feels like to lose someone you love.
I know what it feels like to cry.
I know what it feels like to feel alone.
I know what it feels like to be accused of something you didn’t do.
I know what it feels like to hurt.
Without sinning, He did it all. Just so He could feel what we feel.
While we wonder if anybody in the whole world... all seven billion of them... understand or have ever felt like we do.
Jesus does.
Christ isn’t sympathetic to what’s hurting you today. He doesn’t tell you that He hopes you feel better and then goes back to running the universe. It’s not a passing sentiment... or hollow words of comfort sent your way... or empty rhetoric that everybody gets.
He’s been there. He’s been hurt.
He’s empathetic.
He feels it WITH you. He hurts WITH you. He goes through it WITH you. He doesn’t abandon you to your challenges and turns a semi-understanding ear in your direction. He runs to you with scarred arms wide open... ready to embrace you as you suffer. He not only understands your pain... is not only working ahead of you to relieve your pain... He wants you to know that He himself has suffered your pain.
He knows it hurts. He also knows that it may look dark now... but the sun is about to rise on the shadows in your life. Stay strong and remember...
God restores.
God empathizes.
You are loved more than you’ll ever know.
