"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 

In a perfect world there would be no sin, no suffering, no griefs and sorrows. In a perfect world there would be no tears and broken hearts. There would be only perfection for the purpose of perfect worship of God almighty.

Again as in verse three of this same chapter we see two of the same words used: griefs and sorrows. Griefs in the sense of sickness or infirmities and sorrows as in a broken spirit. Griefs representing our bodily pains and ailments and sorrows as our broken hearts and minds.

We all go through periods when we have sorrows in our lives. Have you ever been faced with a situation where the sorrow was so intense that you seemed to stop being able to process it within your heart and mind? Have you ever felt so much pain that it seemed like it couldn’t get any worse or hurt any deeper?

If you are any kind of normal then my guess is that you have or will go through something, and it may be the very thing that tests your faith as though it was getting tested by a flamethrower. It is during these times that we find that our comfort comes through one place, Jesus.

Jesus Christ bore our sickness and sorrows. He knows what it means to be completely desolate and in despair. Jesus knows it so well that in this verse it says He bore and He carried them. He bore the pain and suffering of grief that comes through sin, sickness and emotional pains.

Not that He was in sickness; rather He carried the effects of sickness, which is a direct result of sin and death. There is no anguish to describe the sorrow faced on the cross. He faced it so we could face whatever life throws at us.

He faced it so that you and I would be able to overcome the sorrows of this life. Life can seem so cold and lonely. Sometimes we need to be reminded that He is our rock, fortress and defense. When no one else is for us or standing with us, we can be secure in the fact that if Jesus is for us who can be against us?

We know this from Romans 8:31-32 which says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

If Jesus is for us then we can “Let the peace of Christ rule…” in our hearts and even “…be thankful (Col. 3:15).” We can know that our awesome God will be faithful to hold us up in the times of sorrow as much as He does in the times of joyful shouting.

We can say with confidence, “The Lord is for me; I will not fear…” and “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation (Ps. 118:6, 14).” Today realize how much Jesus thinks of you as His Son, He cherishes you through His son who was afflicted and thought to have been smitten of God because of sin in His life.

On the contrary He was smitten of God because of the sin of mankind. We are the ones who were culpable, yet Jesus became sin and faced the excruciating sorrows. He knows our grief’s and sorrows deeper than we know them. He also knows the outcome and how it all works together for good (Rom. 8:28) even when it seems like it is all going wrong before your very eyes.

In His Hope,
Adam