As a parent, one of the things I hope my children develop is empathy for others. When someone is hurting and we don’t have the words to say … showing compassion and understanding can show them that we care. Besides of course prayer, a shoulder to cry on is sometimes all we can offer to help someone through pain and grief.
We have a Savior that has deep empathy for us. His heart aches when ours does, and he longs for us to turn to him and allow him to comfort us. He understands our suffering and our trials because he experienced them in a very real way – as a flesh and blood human being.
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14 NLT)
Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. (Hebrews 2:18 NLT)
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:14, 15 NLT)
He faced temptation – directly from the devil himself. He was tempted to turn stones to bread in the face of physical hunger. He was tempted to test God – to prove he was really caring for him. He was tempted to bypass the pain and suffering that awaited him and take the easy way out. (Matthew 4:1-11)
He grieved with his friends when they experienced the loss of a loved one. When he saw their pain, he was angry at death. When he saw what death had taken away, he wept. (John 11:33-35)
He was stripped and mocked…
Spit at and beaten…
Despised and rejected…
And in the face of it all, many people turned their backs on him. (Matthew 27:28-30, 39-44; Isaiah 53:3)
We are not in this alone. And when temptations of life and sorrows of this world are more than we can bear – we have a Savior waiting to help us carry the load.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 NLT)