Joseph is a well-known painter of seascapes. His paintings capture calm waters and threatening storms. Once, an admirer was looking at one of his famous paintings and asked, “How were you able to paint with such realism the violence of a storm at sea?”
“Sir,” he replied, “I was on the bow of a ship one evening facing that storm. I not only saw it, I felt it. I experienced it.”
Like the painter, our Lord experienced the storms of life. Often we neglect to think of what the writer of the book of Hebrews said: “Since He himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.”
When we neglect to walk along side of Jesus in the Gospels, we fail to remember that He was as human as we are. We don’t often remember and recall the fact that whatever we experience in our lives He also experienced it in His life. However, He persevered because of His faith and trust in His Heavenly Father.
When we lose a loved one, we need to remember that He stood by a grave side one day and wept.
When we experience loneliness, we need to recall His feelings of desertion when His followers left Him.
When we experience suffering, we need to look at Him as He hung on His cross on our behalf and try to feel His pain and humiliation. God understands our pain, suffering and grief.
Prayer: How blest we are, Father, to know that we have a “High Priest” who has experienced our pains and knows our problems and is waiting to heal and help us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture for Today: Hebrews 4:15-16 We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
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