Life is hard.
It can be full of mishaps, loss, rejection, addiction, depression, loneliness, pain, and many more "hard" experiences. In other words, or in the words of the cliches, it throws us lemons, it knocks us down. Often times we're found trying to withstand the pelting of life's hardships on our own, which makes the task of putting together something "sweet" - like lemonade - or simply getting back up all the more difficult.
Sometimes we're not even physically alone. Sometimes we're just surrounded by a bunch of people who simply don't understand, or don't care to understand what we're going through. The indifference or lack of sympathy received from others is often the greatest form of isolation a person can feel when going through a personal battle.
Yet in any and every hardship we experience, through every up and every down, there is one constant truth that we can hold fast to: Jesus is able to sympathize with you. That may sound mushy or like a cliche of its own nature, but it is certainly not untrue. I don't know what sort of lemon life has thrown your way, but I promise that Jesus sees you, knows you, understands you, feels for you.
And if you won't take my word for it, I pray that you would take his life for it.
Here are some of Jesus' very own experiences with very real difficulties of life.
Rejection
". . .and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. " Luke 4:29
This was the response Jesus received, and often received, when he tried to preach at the synagogue in Nazareth. His own people were against him simply because he spoke with authority from God.
Temptation
After 40 days of fasting alone in the wilderness, the devil tried to take advantage of Jesus' hunger and weakness and tempted him to turn a stone into bread (Luke 4:3), worship him in exchange for "all the kingdoms of the world" (Luke 4:5-7), jump from the top of the temple (Luke 4:9-11)
Betrayal
Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' very own disciples, sold him out to the chief priests and the elders for a bag of coins. These men arrested Jesus and took him to the house of the high priest where he would later be declared guilty, though innocent, and crucified on the cross.
Pain
Jesus' pain was both physical and emotional. Before he was even hung on the cross, he received lashes to his back. He was then placed on the cross and had nails driven into his hands and feet, he was crowned with thorns that pressed into his head, and he had a sword driven into his side.
Apart from the immense physical brutality Jesus experienced, the emotional hurt of having the Spirit of God depart from him felt like the ultimate rejection in such a time of ridicule. While on the cross "he cried out with a loud voice, Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?" before he gave his last breath (Matthew 27:46).
So, Beloved, it is clear Jesus lead a very hard life, but he did it all for us, and all for you, specifically. He knows your struggle, he knows your pain, he knows your name. When you are hurting, call on him. He will always be there to listen and to care,
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. -Hebrews 4:15
