“Surely, He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  ~Isaiah 53:4

I have been soaking in this scripture lately, especially the part that says, “He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”  I believe the word “grief” in this verse, can also be translated pain.

Recently I have been working on a project, for my non-profit, that includes viewing a lot of video content on sex trafficking atrocities.  As a result, my heart can be deeply broken. I have also, had a lot of friends and loved ones, suffering with pain and affliction. This combination has moved my heart regarding the grief and sorrow surrounding me.  The other day when I read this verse, I was reminded that Jesus bore our grief and sorrow on the cross. What a comfort. In the previous verse in Isaiah it says that Jesus was a man of suffering and familiar with pain.  We do not know even half the stories of Jesus’ life, but we can be assured from this scripture, that he was familiar with suffering and pain. He was surrounded by it daily and was continually moved with compassion driving Him into the action of healing the sick, casting out demons, and releasing the Kingdom of God.  

If Jesus bore our grief and sorrow on the cross, then we don’t have to hold onto it.  Like anything else in our walk with Christ, we can cast our grief and sorrow on Jesus. There are times my heart feels like it’s going to explode with the sorrow around me.  At those times, I get alone with Jesus, and invite Him into the pain, because He sees it, He’s familiar with it, He does not run from it like so many of us do, instead, He runs towards it.  He was a man of suffering and familiar with pain. He’s ready to come into our boat and calm the storm (Matthew 8:23-27). Because of all that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross in His death and resurrection, we can invite Him into those places that are filled with hopelessness and ask that He release hope and faith.  We can invite Him into suffering and ask that He release comfort and healing. This is the great substitutionary work of Christ, the heart of the gospel. Instead of increasing grief and sorrows in our life, Jesus bears and carries them. He took these on Himself that we might have peace. We don’t have to understand all the intricacies of how this works, we can just receive His substitution by faith. Jesus wants to be fully present and central to everything we encounter in life.  And when He takes and replaces our grief and sorrow, He will often give us a path forward in the midst of it.

“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”  

~ Psalm 23:3

Written by: Nita Weldon
Published on: 3/27/2019