Jesus Knows!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! I might as well say Happy Easter etc; since it might be that long before I have the opportunity to write again. Writing is one of my greatest passions but it isn’t high on the priority list these days so I don’t get to it like I want to. Thankfully, today, everyone slept in, the house was quiet, the coffee was strong and the Spirit was moving! I had been hoping to write a lot over the holidays but unfortunately, time got away from me and the exact message I wanted to send was still ruminating. This morning, as I received a bittersweet text from a friend, the Lord, solidified it right then and there. He is good!

To fill you in: We have had a great deal going in the lives of people that are pretty special to us and it has impacted us significantly. It is easy to turn off the television and walk away from the bad news of the day but unfortunately, real life doesn’t afford us that luxury of detachment. After a while, it begins to weigh on your soul. I told my husband the other day, “only God could look out over the sin sick world we live in and not get completely discouraged.” It is true, we are easily discouraged when it comes to sin, even as believers.

Rewind 12 months. Last year at this time I was right in the middle of teaching the book of Hebrews in our ladies’ bible study. Hebrews, mind you, is not for the faint of heart, and I literally freaked out every month as I worked to study each chapter because the themes are deep and not easily understood. But, the Lord started very early in the series to do some simple but deep work in my soul. Let me explain.

In the first chapter of Hebrews, the author (who I secretly think might be a woman - wouldn’t that be cool?), doesn’t give any opening greetings to the audience, he...or she ;) just jumps right in. The book was addressed, as most books in the New Testament, to people who have just come out of intense persecution, are in the midst of intense persecution or are about to be in the middle of intense persecution. First century believers lived under the gun and they knew once they confessed Jesus as Lord that there was no going back. Their lives would never be the same.

So, in the first chapter, the author jumps right in and begins extolling the riches contained in the character of Christ. He does this to establish the fact of Jesus’ deity. Hebrews 1:4 states, “Having become as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs”. The reality that Jesus is God makes a difference in our lives. Why? Because as God, He is ABLE to do what He says He will do. There is a large theological term for this called, “omnipotence”. Basically, it means “omni - all, potence - power”. Jesus, as God, has all power which makes Him ABLE.

Then in the second chapter, the author shifts gears and begins to talk about Jesus’ humanity. How He became, “for a time, a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9). He does this to establish the fact that Jesus was not only God, but He was also man. The reality that Jesus lived as a man for 33 years makes a difference in our lives. Why? Because in His humanity, He KNOWS.

Let me give you an analogy to drive this home. Labor and delivery are among the most painful experiences in life. I don’t think there is a woman alive who has given birth and been awake for it, that doesn’t agree. When you are in the midst of that kind of pain, aside from drugs, there isn’t a whole lot that helps. During the delivery of my first born I had three people in the room with me: my husband, my Mom and my doctor.

My husband was moral support but he was unable to help or even know what it was like to be in labor. My Mom was moral support but she was also sympathetic because she knew what I was going through. My doctor, a woman and a mother herself, was not only sympathetic but she was able to help. Now, if she had chosen not to intervene but stand in the corner of the room while I screamed my head off, all of her sympathy and ability would have been futile.

Jesus, God the Son, “who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Php. 2:6-7) did so in order that He might sympathize. But if He had chosen to back away from the suffering of the cross, we would still be dead in our sins. At the cross, which began at the cradle, Jesus started His journey to the ultimate intervention. At the cross, Jesus INTERVENES. Through His suffering He enters into ours. Selah.

Ladies, I don’t know what you are experiencing today. I don’t know if it is physical, mental, spiritual or all three. But I do know that Jesus KNOWS. He knows not just because He is God and is omniscient (all-knowing). He knows through the experience of it because He lived it. Betrayed, wrongly accused, “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3), beaten, bruised, tired, tempted, poor, hungry and missing His Father, just like us.

I don’t know about you, but this is comforting to me. God, “who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:32)? When I meditate on this scripture and think on these things: that He KNOWS, IS ABLE and He INTERVENES, it makes my outlook on life one of hope. It makes my suffering a little lighter. “Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Is. 53:4), surely He has!

I hope this brings you comfort too. I pray that this knowledge will fill your soul and meet you right where you are today. Nothing is sweeter to me than to say, “Jesus KNOWS, yes, He does!” Not just for yesterday’s trials or today’s but for every tomorrow after that. He will always KNOW. The Savior is for me, and He is for you! He is ABLE and He INTERVENES! Praise to His glorious name!