This time I prayed for grace and strength, and I wept. When I walk I often use that time to pray – I pour out my thoughts to God, tell Him how I am feeling, what’s going on, asking for His help with things. So, I went for a long walk around our neighborhood. I felt myself on the verge of tears, and I needed some time alone. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.Over the weekend the weight of our current situation began to take a toll on me. We praise you for this, and we pray that you would help us to make this good news known to people around us today before they die. We praise you, Jesus, that death and sorrow did not have the last word, that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Show your comfort, your strength and your peace.Īs we look you, we pray for all these things and we praise you that you are the resurrection and the life. Even if there was a reason, even if it was a long time ago and the hurt is still real and the grief is still there, please show your grace. I imagine there are some who are listening to this right now who have endured loss, have seen family member, friend, spouse, parent, somebody close to them die recently. We praise you for this, and we pray for your help. Jesus, we praise you for your love for us, for your care for us, for your identification with us, for this picture of weeping with us when we hurt, when we walked through pain, that you are not distant from us, that you are with us, and that you intercede for us by your Spirit with groans that words cannot even express, Romans 8 teaches. We pray in the midst of a world of sin, and sorrow, and suffering, and death. He’s our peace, our confidence and our hope. He died, and then three days later he rose, the resurrection and the life. This is my hope, that because I’ve trusted in Jesus, I know that when I die I will live, and I’ll see my dad, and I’ll see all those who have gone before and put their faith in Jesus, in the King who came and suffered on our behalf, the King who came and paid the price for our sin, who endured sorrow on our behalf, the ultimate sorrow taking the sins of the world upon himself. Like I know my dad, because he trusted in Jesus, he lives. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me will never die. I mean, that’s the whole picture here in John 11. When you walk through sorrow, when you walk through pain, know this, you have a God in heaven, you have a King, you have a Savior who is able to identify with your hurt and empathize with your weakness and in this to bring healing, and help, and strength, and comfort, and peace, and ultimately victory. This Verse Reminds Us Jesus Brings Healing He knows what it means to be deeply moved in spirit and greatly troubled. He knows what it means to weep over the loss of a friend. We have a God who has come to us who is like us, Jesus like us in every way except without sin. The good news of the Bible here in John 11:35 is that we do not have a God who is distant from us and our emotions, who is not able to identify with our hurt, and our pain, and our sorrow.

I’m guessing you have experienced this as well in some way, if you haven’t that you will. Separation like that is sad, and it’s heavy, and it hurts. I mean in that moment, I fell on the floor like uncontrollably sobbing, so overwhelmed with sorrow in a way that, yeah, is fresh even right now. Like I think about the moment when my brother called me and told me that my dad had just unexpectedly died of a heart attack. We know that in Christ we will be with God forever. He is able to identify and empathize with our hurt. He knows what it means to be greatly troubled. John 11:35 Reminds Us God Empathizes with Our Pain He identified with their emotions, with their hurt, with their heaviness, with their sorrow. Those are the words that describe how Jesus feels when he sees Martha, and Mary, and friends, and family weeping over Lazarus’ death. Yet before he does that, the picture here, Jesus is deeply moved in spirit, greatly troubled. He’s about to bring his friend to life, those who people are mourning for. Here’s Jesus, God in the flesh, who is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and he knows that he’s about to show that he’s the resurrection and the life. Two words. John 11:35 is an easy Bible verse to memorize, “Jesus wept.” But it is an awesome picture, reality, truth to contemplate.

Bible story christ weeping for lazarus