Jesus Knows How You Feel
For we have no superhuman High Priest to whom our weaknesses are unintelligible – he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned.
Hebrews 4:15 (PH)
Max Lucado tells the story of how a friend of his was trying to teach his six-year-old son how to shoot a basket. The boy would take the basketball and heave it toward the goal, but it would always fall short.
The father would then take the ball and toss it into the basket, saying something like, “Just do it this way, son. It’s easy.”
The boy would try again…and miss again. The father would then take the ball and make another basket, encouraging his son to do as he did.
After several minutes and many misses, the boy responded to his father’s words by saying, “Yeah, it’s easy for you up there. You don’t know how hard it is from down here.”
Can you sense the frustration? “You don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like.”
Fortunately, you and I can never say that about the Lord. He knows exactly how you feel. The J.B. Phillips paraphrase of Hebrews 4:15 puts it so well.
For we have no superhuman High Priest to whom our weaknesses are unintelligible – he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned.
Hebrews 4:15
As Lucado points out, the writer of Hebrews is adamant that Jesus knows how we feel almost to the point of redundancy. It’s as if he anticipates our objections. That we will be tempted to say to the Lord what that boy said to his dad. “It’s easy for you up there. You don’t know how hard it is from down here.”
Take a look at that verse phrase by phrase.
He himself. Not an angel. Not an emissary. No…Jesus himself.
Shared fully. Not partially. Not to a large degree. Entirely. Jesus shared fully.
In all our experience. Every trial. Every disappointment. Every hurt. Why? So we would know that He knew how we feel.
Temptation? He faced it. Rejection? He felt it. Betrayal? He knew it. Loneliness? He experienced it. Death? He tasted it.
There’s something comforting about knowing that our Lord doesn’t merely theoretically understand how hard it is down here. He practically understands how hard it is down here.
Thus, you and I can murmur with full confidence, “Jesus, you know how I feel.” And that’s no small thing.
You and I can murmur with full confidence, “Jesus, you know how I feel.” And that’s no small thing.
But that’s not all. The next verse adds, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with fullest confidence, that we may receive mercy for our failures and grace to help in the hour of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Do you see what this is saying? Jesus can not only identify with us in our pain; but He is ready, willing, and able to meet us in our pain and help us deal with our pain.
Jesus can not only identify with us in our pain; but He is ready, willing, and able to meet us in our pain and help us deal with our pain.
Even when you feel that no one understands what you’re going through, take heart. There is One who fully understands what you’re going through. And He wants to do something about it.
PRAYER
Lord, I give you thanks for the wonder of your incarnation and all of its implications. The fact that You know how I feel gives me comfort. And the fact that You want to offer mercy and grace gives me hope.
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