Baptist City Blog

Acquainted But Not Overcome with Grief

Isaiah 53:3

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

What an example Jesus is on how to carry sorrow and grief! When the verse above says that Jesus was "...a man of sorrows,..." it was not saying that He was One Who portrayed sadness, but rather it is teaching that He had sorrow all around Him. You never read in the Scriptures where Jesus was One Who walked around with a poochy lip complaining about His troubles. No, the opposite could be said about the Saviour in that He was One Who lifted the spirit of others.

Moreover, the verse above shows us that Jesus was "...acquainted with grief:..." This phrase means that Jesus was familiar with deep sorrow. You can only imagine the sorrow that Jesus carried as He carried the weight of eternity on His shoulders. Imagine waking up every morning knowing that one day you would be crucified. Imagine waking up every morning knowing that one day you would be beaten with a scourge. Imagine shaking hands with the centurions who would one day nail you to the cross. Imagine facing the Pharisees and chief priests on a daily basis knowing that one day they would crucify you out of hatred. Imagine waking every morning knowing that if you failed to go through with the crucifixion that the whole world would go to Hell. Jesus knew all of this, and yet He did not let the weight of that sorrow defeat Him or His spirit.

When you think of the sorrow with which Jesus carried, you would wonder how He could carry it without it destroying His spirit. Verse 4 shows us how Jesus overcame His sorrow when it says, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:..." Notice, Jesus carried the griefs and sorrows of others instead of focusing on His own grief. Jesus laid His sorrows aside for the sake of helping others with their problems. That is how He made it through the weight of His burdens. That is how Jesus was able to keep His own sorrows from overcoming Him. Yes, Jesus was acquainted with grief every day of His life, but He did not let it overcome Him.

Christian, the only way your grief will not overcome you is to live your life helping others by carrying their grief. I am not saying that your grief is not greater than others, but what I am saying is that the only way to keep your grief from overcoming you is to help others carry their grief and sorrows. You must daily lay your grief and sorrows down and pick up the grief and sorrows of others. The happiest people in the world are not people who have no heartache, but the happiest people in the world are those who have learned to lay their grief and sorrows aside to help carry the grief and sorrow of others.

You may wonder how you can lay your grief and sorrow aside so that you can carry the grief and sorrow of others. Psalm 55:22 shows us how when it says, "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Notice, you are to let the LORD carry your burden of grief. God can carry your burdens better than you can. So, what you do every morning is you go to God and tell Him about your burdens and leave them there. Then, you go and carry the burdens of others. This is how you keep the burden of your grief and sorrow from overcoming you. Let God worry about your problems. You simply need to go and help others with theirs. You will find if you do this that this is the only way you can bear your griefs and sorrows in a positive manner.