Today's Devotional
May 9, 2007
Subject: He Knows Grief
Isaiah 53:3 - "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
It seems like just a few passing lines in the verse when it says that He was "acquainted with grief," but I think those words have a lot more meaning when we find ourselves in a situation where grief is all we've got.
I happened to be with the High School Principal, when he was alerted to the drowning of one of his studentes. He immediately summoned me to his office and there the grief began. This was not only one of his high school students, but He knew the family as well and they attended his church. He was responsible for making the phone call to the family and going by to see them. I rode with him from one place to another as he passed the word. Grief was everywhere. To me it was reminiscent of my days in Iraq, working in the Ministry of Health, with the Baghdad City Morgue right next door. People there were always grieving the lost of loved ones and quite vocally.
It's important in our times of grief that we understand that He's been there. There is no grief that we can encounter that He is not familiar with. Others may say, "I know what you're going through," but not really mean it, but He knows.
Today if you are grieving or if you know someone who is, let them know, He knows your pain, He feels your pain and He knows grief. He's got the scars to prove it.
