Friday, November 5, 2021

Today’s Reading: Hebrews 2:11-18

For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.

Hebrews 2:18

Reflection: Jesus knows what it is like to experience suffering. In order to meet our need for a Savior, Jesus drew near to us. He became our brother, walking the earth and experiencing trials and testing just as we do. Jesus was born fully God, but was also fully human. He was not free from hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue while He lived and taught. And His betrayal, torture and death were emotionally, spiritually, and physically excruciating. The complete work that Jesus did – from His birth to His death on the Cross – was difficult.

But this is the beauty of the Cross: by Jesus experiencing pain and suffering, He knew our pain. When we come to Jesus with our trials and our hardships, we are not coming to a God Who is only able to pity us. We are coming to Jesus, someone Who understands firsthand what it is to feel hurt, heartache, sadness, anger, fatigue, betrayal, hunger, thirst, and abandonment. Moreover, because Jesus was fully human, He was able to die for us.

For our sake, God lived as one of us through Jesus. Jesus exchanged His throne in Heaven in order to live a humble life on Earth. And He gave up even His earthly life for us that we could be freed from sin and death and experience eternity. He surrendered it all out of His love for the Father and His love for us. He walked with us in order that we might walk with Him now. While the Way we are called to walk as Christians is difficult, it is not somewhere that our Savior has not already been. Instead, it is a walk that we can complete alongside Someone Who has been through it all already. We walk with the Savior, and we are fully known and fully understood by Him.

Prayer: Lord, through Your Only Begotten Son, You gave everything for me. Thank You for drawing near to me and thank You for going before me in all things. I pray that the thought of Your great sacrifice would strengthen me in my walk of faith and remind me that I am never alone. In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN.

Bible-in-a-Year Reading Plan (credit: Biblestudytools.com): Hebrews 2; Genesis 46:28-34; Genesis 47; Psalm 37