How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? PSALM 13:1-2
The mind of Christ was saturated with these psalms. He would have recited them in the synagogue. He used them. He experienced them. And He is with us when we pray them. So, what does Jesus know about this psalm? How does it relate to Him?
Did Jesus ever know what it is to be in an agony of soul? Yes. “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears” (Heb. 5:7).
Did Jesus ever know what it was like to say, “How long?” Yes. He was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering (Is. 53:3). In the garden of Gethsemane, He said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Mat. 26:38).
Did Jesus know what it was like for the Father to hide His face from Him? Yes. He cried out from the cross with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mat. 27:46).
Jesus knows what it is to be in an agony of soul. That’s why He is there for you when you suffer. Christ is the Saviour for those who suffer because He is the suffering Saviour.
Reflect on these things and ask God to renew your confidence in Jesus that He is, in fact, there for you when you are suffering.
Written by Colin Smith
Read by Sue McLeish
