A Prayer about Jesus’ Sympathy for Us
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15
Gracious and Generous God,
How often do we pause to consider
how a sympathetic Savior changes everything?
As we bow before you today,
may we grasp afresh
the hope that is ours in our beloved Christ:
Jesus, in his sinless humanity,
is sympathetic to our weakness.
How can this be?
In one of my favorite books, the author
explains it so much better than I can:
“It is in our ‘weaknesses’ that Jesus sympathizes with us.”
[Sympathize means “to suffer with.”]
“Sympathize here is not cool and detached pity…
In our pain, Jesus is pained;
in our suffering,
he feels the suffering as his own
even though it isn’t…
His is a love that cannot be held back
when he sees his people in pain.”*
Oh, Lord, thank you for sending
a suffering and sympathetic Savior.
May we cling to our suffering Savior.
May we rest in Christ’s sympathy for us,
even as we battle sin,
even as we suffer in a fallen world.
In Jesus’ sympathetic name. Amen.
Read Hebrews 4:14-16.
*(Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by Dane Ortlund, page 46).
Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage
author, life and legacy coach, speaker
Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage is the author of Preparing for Glory: Biblical Answers to 40 Questions on Living and Dying in Hope of Heaven.
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