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Man of Sorrows – God of Comfort

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He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.          Isaiah 53:3 KJV

“Man of Sorrows what a name?” begins the hymn by Phillip Bliss, that points us to Jesus, who understands our grief because He has walked in our shoes. And if even Jesus, the Son of God, could not escape sorrows; how much more can we think that they will not invade ours without warning? The Sunday before my mother died I was leaving church when my friend Jerry stopped me to ask how she was doing. For a moment I stumbled over a few words trying to explain and then the dam of my emotions broke. “Not good Jerry; not good at all!” I choked out and then I sat down in the closest pew and began to weep. Suddenly I was surrounded not only by Jerry but by my wife and several of our friends as a tidal wave of memories, regrets and grief swept over me.

I am still so thankful for their love and quiet comfort that day because it helped prepare me for the phone call from the hospice just a few days later telling me that she was gone. Really tough times are impossible to plan for. For every one of us there will come a point where we have nothing left and there only grace remains. There Jesus; who was called a man of sorrows, comes with comfort. Sometimes He gives us a sense of His presence; sometimes He reminds us of His promises and at others He uses the arms of family and friends to hold us close to His heart.

Imported from phone 229

Hey! Break it Up!

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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 ESV

“Dad! Chris is hitting me!” my youngest shouted through the door. I rushed in to find our sons once again locked in combat over their Lego construction projects.

“My brother’s a jerk!”  Our seven year old retorted as he stood with arms crossed. “He knocked over what I was building with and so I hit him!”

“Okay you guys, go sit on your beds!” I snapped. This was the umpteenth tussle between them just in the last week and I searched my mind for a way out of the vicious cycle. “Now you’re going to sit there until you can tell me ten things good about your brother.” I sternly told them. Our youngest sat deep in thought, then burst out in frustration, “But there’s nothing good about my brother!”

Do you ever feel like that about somebody in your life? Often healing in a relationship won’t begin until we ask God to help us see something good in the other person.   On the cross, Jesus couldn’t see anything and yet He said, “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”  He was thinking of His love for us when He chose to give His life. Jesus remembered our weaknesses and not our sins. Jesus believed we were worth dying for. When we see something good in someone else He will help us to see something excellent and worthy of praise in our brother.