When bouts of electric shocks fired into my body, with violently convulsing pain, I couldn’t think but only endure. When they subsided, I always melted with gratitude to our Savior, who suffered with me.
Can you imagine His raw and exposed nerves struck by scourges? Can you imagine the physical pain Jesus endured from dehydration, the nails, His muscles ruined by carrying His cross? Can you imagine the horror of His fiery suffering as He heard the accusations and taunts, in His pain-filled body? Can you imagine His grief over all the sin in this fallen world and its wretched effects of suffering and death?
Jesus knew my nerve pain and electric shocks. He experienced every bit of my earthly suffering firsthand.
And He experienced yours too, sweet friend.
Throned upon the awful tree,
King of grief, I watch with thee.
(“Throned Upon the Awful Tree,” Ellerton, J., 1875)
Darkness veils thine anguished face:
none its lines of woe can trace…
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows (Is. 53:4 ESV).
none can tell what pangs unknown
hold thee silent and alone.
Jesus suffered, for me
My sinless Savior suffered all of this, in my place. Jesus Christ took on Himself the punishment I deserve for everything I think, say, or do that rebels against God and His perfect way for me outlined in His Word. Jesus bore the punishment I deserve for the sin nature I was born with and every personal sin. Past, present, future.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities (Is. 53:5 ESV).
Silent through those three dread hours,
wrestling with the evil powers, left alone with human sin…
He died for my pride and unbelief that naturally puts me at the center of my life, the same temptation of the enemy for all of us: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5 ESV). Sin so permeates our very being that we’re often unaware of it. We’re all in trouble because “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23 ESV).
gloom around thee and within,
till the appointed time is nigh,
till the Lamb of God may die.
But the perfectly spotless, righteous, holy God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the man of sorrows, the Suffering Servant, willingly endured all His suffering…as my Lamb of God.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth (Is. 53:7 ESV).
Jesus suffered separation from God so that I never will
Hark, that cry that peals aloud
upward through the whelming cloud!
Thou, the Father’s only Son,
thou, his own Anointed One,
thou dost ask him — can it be? —
“Why hast thou forsaken me?”
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand (Is. 53:10 ESV).
Because I now belong to Jesus, Jesus suffered with me in my fire of dross-burning pain. As the only One who completely understands our earthly suffering, He came near with His comforting presence.
His promises held me tight.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13 ESV).
“I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20 ESV).
Knowing Jesus, who suffers with me as I experience suffering
Praise to our healing God; my electric shocks disappeared after His gift of brain surgery. But I will never forget them. In those horrific episodes of anguish, I experienced just a tiny bit of knowing Jesus:
Imagining Jesus on the cross, imagining His emotional, spiritual, and physical suffering, He gave me an even deeper love for God.
For God loved the world in this way:
He gave His One and Only Son,
so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him (Jn. 3:16-17 CSB).
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities (Is. 53:11 ESV).
Lord, should fear and anguish roll
darkly o’er my sinful soul,
thou, who once wast thus bereft
that thine own might never be left…
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed (Is. 53:5 ESV).
teach me by that bitter cry
in the gloom to know thee nigh.
Knowing Jesus, who suffered for me and suffers with me
Into my current trials, Jesus continues to suffer with me, through His Word and songs that echo His Word. For our alive and reigning Savior is praying for us to lay aside our sin and run our own race of endurance (Heb. 12:1). He was indeed “throned” upon the awful tree.
Sister in Christ, into our own agony, let’s ask Jesus to help us remember what He experienced for us at the cross. In the process, He helps us to keep going in our own pain…because He kept going for us. And now? He suffers with me and you, as we know Jesus even more deeply.
This week’s worship music playlist gift is a tiny tool to help us as we suffer. Perhaps you’re living with chronic pain or grief, under a wearying attack from enemies, or your fires seem unbearable right now.
So, this week, let’s know Jesus as we sing about what He’s done for us on the cross. If a weekly Christ-exalting playlist and prayer might bless you, here is the link to receive it in your email:
