AbeLog

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

I am saddened when I read about the news of recent economy crisis. It is not because I have suffered any loss due to this crisis, it is because I read about how ordinary folks are being misled to invest all their savings and end up with almost nothing. I am saddened and even angry when I find out from the news that the financial institute which was bailed out by the US government with billions of their tax payers money, splurged it staffs with expensive spa resort expenses. I am saddened by the godlessness of humanity in this crisis. This is our fallen world.

I am saddened to hear my father coughing badly and complaining of his sleepless night as he has to constantly wake up to urinate. My heart was pricked every time I accompanied him to hospital for check up and blood test has to be done. I feel bad at times for getting irritated about his complains of being lonely, being sick and weak; as for me, it is himself that has not been proactive to live a meaningful and healthy life. Sometimes, I think that if he goes to church, that will solve all the problems. But I know that is not true, he does not really need to go to church, he needs Jesus. He needs Jesus to be his friend, so that he won’t be lonely anymore. He needs Jesus to heal him from his sickness so that he can enjoy his life again. He needs Jesus to give him hope for keeping his life healthy. He needs Jesus. And I have not been sharing much with him. I am disappointed with myself. I am even ashamed of myself as a pastor who teaches people to share Christ with others.

I am saddened to see my own daughter having running nose recently. I feel the pain she seems to be going through whenever I hear her nose being block by mucus. I even feel bad whenever my wife and I have to “pin” her down to suck out the mucus from her nose; she will struggle and cry, and my heart simply can’t bear to continue, but we have to. Now I begin to understand the heartbeat of a parent, and surely appreciate God the Father even more when I know that I have failed Him, and yet He still goes all the way out to help me to get it right again. That’s the Father’s heart.

Indeed, there are many more things in life can sadden me, and I believe this is true for most of us. But the question I have to ask myself will be: how do we carry on from here? How do we continue to live in such a sadden world? The answer is that, we don’t have to live through it by ourselves alone. Jesus promises to bear it and carry all of them for us.

As I read Isaiah 53:4, I can’t help, but be thankful. I am reminded that I am not alone. I am not to bear and carry all my pains, my grief and my sorrows alone, but to let Jesus takes them all. This verse has been used by pro-super-natural-healing preacher to point out that Jesus’ work on the Cross does not only deal with the emotional grief and sorrow, but actually deal with physical pain and healing is promised here. As the Hebrew word used to translate “Griefs” is better translated as sickness or pains. I agree to such exegesis and understanding of this passage, and agree that God has promised physical healing as part of His work on the Cross. God is greater than who we think He is. God is not restricted to emotional and spiritual healing only, but His greatness and power covers even our physical body.

I am not here to advocate Charismatic movement, but to realize that life without letting Christ to bear and carry our sickness and sorrows is a meaningless. On the Cross, He bears and carries my sins and my pains. On the Cross, He bears and carries your sins and your pains. What must we do? Surrender our sins and pains to Him. Simple? But not so.

We can easily submit our sins to Jesus to bear and carry, but somehow we keep to ourselves our pains and sickness. We think that our doctors and specialists can bear and carry our pains and sickness better that Jesus. I believe that God has risen up doctors and specialists to assist Him in treating our sickness, but it is ultimately God who heals. We cannot give our sickness to the doctors; neither can we pass our pains to the specialists. No matter how much they want to help, but they can’t. But the Bible tells us, at least I see that it is clear, that “Surely (without any shadow of doubt) our griefs (sicknesses) He (Jesus) Himself (no one else) bore (on His body), and our sorrows (pains) He (Jesus) carried (to the Cross)”.

Are you still holding on to your sickness and sorrows? Why not let Jesus bear and carry them for you?

HHS…

Abel…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized and You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.