READ: JOHN 11:1-44; HEBREWS 4:14-16; REVELATION 21:1-5

I closed the book and pondered what I had just read. Jesus weeps for me? The novel I was reading explained it in such a way that I just had to stop for a moment and think. The book said Jesus is there with us in our suffering. His heart breaks over human pain, and He mourns with us.

But He doesn’t mourn because all is lost. Christ will come back and restore everything that has been broken by sin, and everyone who has put their trust in Him will be saved and restored. The reason Jesus mourns is because He loves us and hates to see us suffer.

I realize God could stop all this sin and suffering right now, but His plan is to wait for just the right time to do so (2 Peter 3:9-13). In the beginning, He gave us a choice to trust Him or not. We humans chose to go our own way and reject God, and now we are suffering, not just from the consequences of our own sin, but also from the effects of all humanity’s sin.

I will suffer, but I won’t do it alone. I have a High Priest—Jesus Christ, the Son of God—who weeps for me because He has been where I’ve been, and He knows how terrible it is to be alone. He was despised by His own brothers, and one of His closest friends denied Him. He felt the sorrow of losing a loved one, and He knows the pain of utter humiliation. His heavenly Father, with whom He had a perfect relationship, poured out all of His just wrath against our sin on Jesus when He hung on the cross. Jesus was willing to go through all of this, because He loves me. He knows how I feel, and more. He is my Comforter, my Healer, and my Friend.

Next time I’m suffering, I’ll know that God hasn’t abandoned me in my time of trouble. Instead, He has provided a way for me to be rescued out of this mess by stepping into it Himself. He’ll be weeping with me, comforting me, and redirecting my focus onto eternity, reminding me that—because Jesus has conquered the grave—there will come a day when He and I won’t weep anymore. • Emma Pamer

• How does it make you feel to know that Jesus has been through everything you might be going through, and more? How does it make you feel to know that Jesus weeps with and for you?

• Consider taking some time to tell Jesus about a couple ways you have been experiencing suffering— whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually—and imagine Him sitting beside you and weeping over these things.

Jesus wept. John 11:35 (NIV)