There is loneliness that comes from being alone. Many of us know what that feels like. But there's also a loneliness that comes from being unknown.
This is when you carry burdens or pressures no one else can feel. You don't have words or a voice for your prayers. There’s an ache of carrying something no one else can understand. The prayers that don’t make it past your lips. The weight of your suffering has no language to communicate and seems foreign to others.
Thankfully, Hebrews tells us something almost too good to be true. That we are not unknown.
We do not have a high priest who is distant or detached from pain. We have One who has felt it. And not just theoretically or symbolically. Jesus knows bodily, tearful pain that has to shout. Jesus has cried out. Hebrews says he offered “loud cries and tears.” That means there were moments when even the Son of God groaned his prayers.
And here’s the tension we often neglect. We want Jesus to know our suffering, but we hesitate to know his. But to follow Jesus is not just to be understood by him. We must enter into the shape of his life. To learn what it means to trust God even when the pressure is unbearable.
I don't mean that we should seek out or glorify pain. But if Jesus walked this road, we will, too. So, how well are we willing to do that?
Like Jesus, we can learn to see how obedience may cause suffering, but through it our trust grows, and we encounter grace in ways we would not understand otherwise. And since he has walked with us, we don’t approach God with fear. We can come boldly.
So bring your whole self to the Lord. He knows your suffering. The question is, Will you know his?
Stay blessed...john
Comments