To Encourage You

Hebrews 2:17-18 “He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God . . .For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression that goes something like this: “Before you judge a man, first walk a mile in his shoes.”  It’s an expression that highlights the need for empathy in dealing with others.  Although you may think you can empathize with another person regarding what he or she is going through, unless you’ve been there yourself, it’s unlikely that you really can.  And while that may be obvious to you, it is more obvious to the one who is suffering.  Of course, God knows this, and as the verse above tells us, He went to the furthest possible extent to make sure we knew He could fully empathize with us. 

The truth is, God knew perfectly from the beginning everything about us, for He made us.  He could have just told us that He fully understood what we were going through in any trial we faced, and it would have been true. However, He went far beyond this to the point that He took on flesh and walked this earth as a man – and He suffered. That’s what the verses above are telling us. 

In Hebrews 4:15 this truth is again expressed with these words: “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  In the incredible condescension of the Son of God, He suffered the very things that we do in life – and then some.  As He walked on this earth, He knew what it was to be “despised and rejected by men . . . (He was) a man of sorrowsand acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He knew what it was to be falsely accused. He knew what it was to be misunderstood.  He experienced betrayal and humiliation. He knew what it was to be thirsty, hungry, and weary.  He faced tremendous temptation to sin.  And He experienced incredible physical pain.  Aren’t you thankful for such a God as this? Aren’t you thankful that when you reach out to Jesus in prayer, you are reaching out to One Who knows what you are dealing with because He has been where you are?  Aren’t you thankful that His love was so great that He went to the extent in His life to “walk a mile in our shoes”? In fact, when He commanded us with the words, “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:41), we know that He did this very thing Himself, for He did more than enough to show us the full extent of His love. 

But this begs the question, “Do I really want to be like Him?”  Do we realize that it is “to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21)? Do we see that it is for greater usefulness in the kingdom of God that He has allowed us to be touched by suffering in various ways? Do we understand that the things we have endured were placed in our life to make us merciful, compassionate, empathetic blessings to someone else like we could not have otherwise been? 

Paul put it this way as he shared with the Corinthian church the many ways that he had suffered for the sake of the gospel: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer” (1 Corinthians 1:3-6).

So, if you are a Christian, and you are going through something that is overwhelming right now, if you are facing a challenge that seems more than you can endure, if you are asking the question, “Why is this happening to me?” may God open your eyes to the empathy of our merciful High Priest Who suffered in every way that we do. And may He help us to see that it is in suffering that He often prepares us to glorify Him in following His example as empathetic priests of the most High God.