Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs

"Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5 ESV)

No matter where we have been. No matter what we are presently going through. Jesus Christ is the answer to our problems. He is the solution. For he who was God in the flesh while he walked this earth, while he was also fully man (human), came to this earth to be born as a human baby to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit. He came to bring us the message of the gospel of our salvation, and he came to die on a cross to put our sins to death with him so that by faith in him we might be delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we can now serve him with our lives.

But he didn’t come just to preach the gospel, and just to die for our sins, but he came to heal broken hearts and lives and bodies, too. For on that cross he also bore our griefs and our sorrows. For he suffered much grief and sorrow himself in order to free us from our addiction to sin. For he was hated and persecuted, despised and rejected. He was betrayed and denied by close companions. He was deserted by his closest friends. And many who were once in support of him turned against him and called for his crucifixion.

Although he had done no wrong, but only good, and even though he had fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowful, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, and healed their diseases and their afflictions, and performed many miracles in their sight, many of the people who he had ministered to turned against him. Why? Because they were persuaded to do so by those in positions of rule and authority over the people. They gave into peer pressure and they joined in with “Crucify him,” even though Jesus was fully innocent.

And he was tempted to sin as we are, but without sin. So, he understands temptation, and he understands grief, sorrow, pain and suffering. He knows from personal experience what it is like to be rejected and mistreated, even by those who claimed to love him and/or to follow and support him. He knows what it is like to be betrayed and thought evil of when he was totally innocent. He knows and understands being falsely accused and framed for a crime he did not commit. So, he understands our suffering.

And Jesus died on that cross, not just to deliver us from our slavery to sin, and not just to give us new lives in him to be lived for his purposes and for his glory, and not just to give us the hope of eternal life with God. He came, and he lived, and he died to heal us from our broken hearts and from our broken lives and from our persecutions and rejections and mistreatments and horrible childhoods and all that we have suffered in this life. And it is because he suffered and died and lived that we can be healed by him.

So, what’s the catch? The catch is that we must believe him. We must surrender our lives over to him and die with him to sin so that we might live to him and to his righteousness, in his power, strength, and wisdom. We must now become his possession and he must now become Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. And we must accept his sovereignty over our lives, and believe that all we have gone through serves a purpose to make us into the people of God that he wants us to be for his glory.

And so we must forgive everyone who has hurt us in any way. Let go of the hurt, and let go of the bitterness, resentment, hate, and pride and all that goes along with it. Accept God’s sovereignty over our lives. And now we must be yielded fully to the Lord and to his service to go with him wherever he leads us and to do as he commands. And every time we are hurt and we suffer injustice we must surrender it all over to the Lord, forgive, and keep serving the Lord, and keep loving others, even our enemies. Healing will come when we do. And we must walk in obedience to our Lord.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Broken and Contrite  

An Original Work / May 13, 2012

I come before You, Lord, my Savior,

With humble heart and crushed in spirit.

I bow before You, I implore You,

Heal my broken heart, I pray.

Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,

You are the King of my heart.

Lord, purify my heart within me;

Sanctify me, whole within.

Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully

The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.

I pray You give me grace and mercy,

Strength and wisdom to obey.

Father God, my heart’s desire,

Won’t You set my heart on fire?

Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders

My walk with You, now I pray.

Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,

My heart cries out for understanding.

I want to follow You in all ways,

Never straying from Your truth.

Holy Spirit, come in power,

Fill me with Your love today.

Lord, mold and make me; 

Your hands formed me;

Live Your life through me, I pray.

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