Originally posted: 8/12/2020

“Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!” (6:2).

Have you ever felt like no one could possibly understand? No one could ever feel the pain you feel…? No one has ever hurt as badly as you…?

There was a time I really believed that to be the case. In my teen years. I’m so deeply grateful He brought me through; that God, in His grace, spared my life and brought me to Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. Of course, I now know that compared to Job, and so many others, my pain was miniscule. But to a sixteen-year old girl, who felt like her whole world was collapsing, the weight of grief was much heavier than I could carry.

So, I get what Job was saying. It became clear to him through the words of Eliphaz, that empathy, or even a little sympathy, was not on the menu. But Job was certain if someone could actually carry his pain, if someone would be placed beneath the weight of his inconsolable grief, then they would surely understand.

And Someone did! Jesus carried every bit of our pain and suffering, every consequence of every sin, with Him to the cross; and none has ever known as well as Him Who Knows the Weight of Our Grief.

Consider Him Who Knows the Weight of Our Grief

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He was despised and forsaken.
  • He was despised and forsaken of men,
    A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; (Isaiah 53:3).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He Himself bore every grief and carried every sorrow.
  • Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
    And our sorrows He carried… (Isaiah 53:4).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He was stricken and afflicted.
  • …Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
    Smitten of God, and afflicted, (Isaiah 53:4).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He was pierced and crushed.
  • But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
    He was crushed for our iniquities… (Isaiah 53:5).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He was chastened and scourged.
  • …The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
    And by His scourging we are healed, (Isaiah 53:5).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; though He was innocent, He was deserted as our iniquity fell on Him.
  • All of us like sheep have gone astray,
    Each of us has turned to his own way;
    But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
    To fall on Him, (Isaiah 53:6).

• He Knows the Weight of Our Grief; He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
  • For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, (Hebrews 4:15).

How do we respond to Him Who Knows the Weight of Our Grief?

Grief has a way of distorting everything; it’s like looking through someone else’s prescription glasses. And when we view life through our pain and sorrow, everything gets out of focus, blurring our ability to see Truth.

Job’s whole world had been rocked, and everything he knew to be true about God had been distorted, so much so that the idea of death seemed a more desirable option to him than life.

“Oh that my request might come to pass,
And that God would grant my longing!
⁹ “Would that God were willing to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!” (6:8-9).

And the truth is, sometimes the pain and sufferings of life tempt us to misinterpret and disfigure the character of God.

We must always decipher the events of our life through the Truth of Who God Is. The best way to see Him clearly, is to see Him revealed in His Word by the empowerment of His Holy Spirit. And then, we must choose and decide to dwell on His Truth.

Today and every day, let us ask Him to empower us to fix our minds on His Truth.

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He is near to save.
  • The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    And saves those who are crushed in spirit, (Psalm 34:18).

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He keeps count of our every tear.
  • You have taken account of my wanderings;
    Put my tears in Your bottle.
    Are they not in Your book? (Psalm 56:8).

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He heals and binds up our broken hearts.
  • He heals the brokenhearted
    And binds up their wounds, (Psalm 147:3).

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He comforts us when we mourn.
  • “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” (Matthew 5:4).

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He comforts us so that we can share Him with others.
  • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God, (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

• Truth: Because He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, He will one day wipe away every tear and every propelling force of pain and grief.
  • “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away,” (Revelation 21:4).

Job did not have the advantage of knowing the end of his story. We, on the other hand, do. Oh, that we would not allow the momentary afflictions of this life to cloud out the Truth of our eternity with Him.

He Knows the Weight of Our Grief, but more importantly, He Knows the Weight of the Eternal Glory He has prepared for us. Let us sincerely ask Him to grow us in our faith, that we would be empowered to live with our eyes fixed on Him Who Knows the Weight of Our Grief.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal, (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Let’s Grow Together!