"A man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering . . . , Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:3-4)".
'We were home on furlough and nicely settled in a big roomy house in downtown Toronto. My husband was on a missionary tour in British Columbia.
The children and I loved being with my dad, and it gave them a sense of belonging after the long separation from family.
Then suddenly he was gone! Stricken with a heart attack, he died late one night, all alone. No more loving, laughing Grandpa. No more dear, understanding Dad.
Letters, phone calls and visits helped me greatly. Yet the real comfort lay in reading in God's Word such passages as, "A man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering."
To be familiar with a subject is to know it thoroughly. Jesus saw, He knew and He identified Himself with a suffering world. He watched the widow of Nain as she followed the casket of her only son. He heard the sobbing of Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus. He watched it all. He became acquainted with grief - their grief, our grief.
But it does not stop there. "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows." How precious to tear-stained eyes are those words! If we are carrying a heavy bag up the stairs and someone says, "Here, let me carry that," and he takes it from us, who is carrying it? Is it not the one who took it from us?
The passage does not say that He took it away, thrust it from us or stamped it out. He does that with our sins. Sorrow is very different. He lifts our sorrows to His shoulders and walks right along beside us. He just comes to us and says, "Let Me carry that!" '
M. KELLY
* 1 Thessalonians 4:13 " ... lest you sorrow as others who have no hope".
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