Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Been There - Experienced That

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 or 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.

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 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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