King

Which Jesus Is ‘With You’ in Your Suffering?

/ Blake Glosson / 1 Comment

One of Christ’s most hope-giving promises to sufferers is “I am with you” (cf. Matt. 28:20). Yet our ability to draw strength and hope from this promise rests entirely upon our view of Jesus. Who exactly is this Jesus who is with us in our suffering?

We’ve all met people whose presence makes suffering worse. They spew negativity. They drip with judgmentalism. They seem more interested in fixing us than understanding us. They might even blatantly shame us. If these people promised, “I will be with you in your suffering,” we would cringe and hope it isn’t true. We’d rather suffer alone than with a disparaging presence.

Others are a balm in our struggles. They are safe. They encourage us. They ask questions and listen well. They speak words of truth and life. We say of these people, “I don’t know how I could’ve made it through that without her.”

How do you view Jesus? When Jesus says, “I am with you in your suffering,” which emotions stir inside you? Comfort? Fear? Hope? Shame? Apathy? Consider three views of Jesus, and ask yourself which “Jesus” you relate to most.

View #1: Satanized Jesus

The Apostle Paul observed that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). Yet sometimes the devil doesn’t need to disguise himself—we do it for him. We grab hold of Scripture’s description of Satan, dress him up as Jesus, and then look to him in our suffering. Unsurprisingly, Satanized Jesus only makes our grief and pain worse.

This Jesus looks at us with disdain in his eyes. He doesn’t need to say a single word—we can tell by his expression that he’s judging us. He condemns us. He heaps burdens on us. He says, “Quit crying. It’s your fault you’re suffering anyway. God is getting back at you for your sin.”

Satanized Jesus hisses accusations, and we accept them as the voice of God. He is harsh, impatient, and impossible to please. He offers no forgiveness. No encouragement. No mercy. No help. This “Jesus” makes suffering intolerable.

View #2: Neutralized Jesus

Unlike Satanized Jesus, Neutralized Jesus doesn’t make suffering worse—but he doesn’t make it better, either. His presence is like a wallflower, always in the room but rarely noticeable. We could live with or without him. He’s neutral.

There are many ways we neutralize Jesus in our minds. Some believe Jesus is powerful but doubt his care (cf. Mark 4:38; Luke 10:40). Others believe Jesus cares but doubt his ability to help in their (seemingly) unique situation (cf. Matt. 8:26; 14:31; John 5:6–7). Still others believe Jesus is hamstrung by their sin, unable to move in their life until they clean themselves up (cf. John 4:13–18).

“I am with you” means little to those living with a neutralized Jesus. They say, “It’s a nice gesture, but his presence doesn’t make a difference in my broken life.”

View #3: Biblical Jesus

For the promise of Christ’s presence to fortify us in our suffering, we must reject the Satanized and neutralized misconceptions of Jesus and renew our minds with the Jesus revealed in Scripture.

According to God’s Word, Jesus isn’t only with us; he’s unremittingly for us (Ps. 56:9; Rom. 8:31). His presence is always a favorable, advocating, affectionate presence—yes, even after we sin (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 2:1). Dane Ortlund remarks, “He’s not only there; he is on our team. He is for us. … He is looking at us and saying, ‘I am rooting for you. I am in your corner. You [can] fall into my open, nail-scarred hands any time you want.’”

In our suffering—even that which we’ve brought on ourselves by our sin—the true Jesus remains on our side. He faithfully disciplines us (Rev. 3:19) and calls us to repent and follow him—yet he does so with unmatched tenderness. Ortlund again: “Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to Jesus is not a pointed finger but open arms.”

In the Fire of Affliction With Us

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan. 3) gives us a powerful picture of Christ’s heart in our suffering. God famously saved these men from a blazing furnace after they refused to worship the king’s golden statue. But how God saved them is curious and often overlooked.

Before Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from the fire, a fourth man—whom Timothy Keller and others identify as a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ—appeared “walking in the midst of the fire” with them (Dan. 3:25). How strange is this? Christ could’ve easily appeared next to the king—safely and comfortably removed from the flames—and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come out of the fire!” This would’ve showcased his power and authority. Instead, Christ joined his people in the fire, preferring to endure the heat with them before saving them.

And so Jesus does for us. Our Savior refused to sit back and watch us suffer alone. He refused to stay at a safe distance from the flames of our affliction. Christ became man to identify, suffer, and walk through the fire with his people before saving us, forever binding himself to us intimately.

When Jesus says, “I am with you,” he says it as one who knows the pain of suffering. He understands our weaknesses, fears, and struggles. He has felt the heat of the fire himself. And those flames were hottest on the cross, where Jesus was scorched for us, so we would never have to walk through the fire of affliction alone.

One day, Jesus will return to extinguish the fire of affliction forever. Until that day, we must remember that our Savior is unreservedly committed to us, and he walks in the midst of the fire with us, even now.

“When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior… Do not fear, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 43:2‭–5)

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Blake Glosson is a pastoral resident at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois, and an MDiv student at Reformed Theological Seminary. He has been published by The Gospel Coalition and Crosswalk.com and republished and/or referred by Eternal Perspective Ministries (Randy Alcorn), Challies.com (Tim Challies), Moody Radio (here, here, and here), The JOY FM (The Morning Cruise with Dave, Bill, and Carmen), ChurchLeaders.com, The Aquila Report, Monergism.com, and numerous other sources. Previously, he served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.

Read “In Suffering, God Isn’t (Simply) Teaching You a Lesson” here.

Read “7 Things to Say to a Hurting Loved One” here.

Read “How to Pray with a Hurting Loved One” here.

God’s Heart in Hosea

/ Johnna Wahrman / Leave a comment

“What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance, and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?” — J.I. Packer, Knowing God

Hosea is a gem. Tucked between Daniel and Joel, Hosea is a multifaceted exploration of the character of God in a judgment-fraught book.

From a bird’s eye view, Hosea looks like a hopeless minor prophet, full of faithless people and pending doom. And I’ll admit, Hosea does have these elements in plenty. However, a deeper dive reveals glorious truths about God’s heart for His people—truths we desperately need to hear as sinners and sufferers living in a world that can often feel hopeless.

During a recent study of this book, three precious truths about God’s character struck me in new and acute ways: God is a passionate husband, a kind father, and a zealous king to those He calls His own.

1. God is a Passionate Husband – He Relentlessly Pursues His People

Hosea begins with a startling command. God instructs Hosea to take a wife of prostitution—one who would be unfaithful to him—and He calls Hosea to love her relentlessly (Hos. 1:2). This mandate served as a picture of God’s relationship with His bride, the Israelites. Although the “land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hos. 1:2), God pursues them anyway. Hosea was to model this faithful love.

Consider how remarkable Hosea’s response must have seemed to his wife. Rather than cutting her off in anger or rejecting her—the typical response of a forsaken husband—Hosea woos his wife with tenderness and compassion. He redeems her and brings her home (Hos. 3).

Here we get a glimpse into one of the most dazzling aspects of the character of God: The Lord pursues His people with kindness and tenderness, ready ­and even plotting in advance to shower mercy on repentant hearts.

The Lord pursues His people with kindness and tenderness, ready ­and even plotting in advance to shower mercy on repentant hearts.

Notice how God describes His merciful plans for His bride in chapter 2:

“And in that day I will answer declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people;’ and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hos. 2:21-23, emphasis mine).

And again, in the last chapter of Hosea:

“I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hos. 14:4-7, emphasis mine).

God is relentlessly committed to the good of His bride, and He will pursue her with His love not only until she is safe, but flourishing (Hos. 14:7).

2. God is a Kind Father – He IS the Good of His People

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).

God’s love for His people is not only that of a passionate husband but also that of a kind father who loves His children, more profoundly and completely than any earthly example.

“Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them” (Hos. 11:3-4, emphasis mine).

This is the heartbeat of God’s pursuit of His wayward people. Because He is their only good, He longs to draw them back to Himself. “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah?” (Hos. 6:4). God’s appeal to His people is that of a heartbroken father.

This is the heartbeat of God’s pursuit of His wayward people. Because He is their only good, He longs to draw them back to Himself.

The Israelites were charging down a destructive path, a path that seemed prosperous and advantageous from their perspective. The nation declared: “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink” (Hos. 2:5). In other words, they were seeking good apart from God. The people did not know that it was He who provided the grain, the wine, the oil, the silver, and the gold in the past (Hos. 2:8), and He alone would provide good in the future.

How often I find myself in the Israelites’ shoes, sprinting eagerly toward idols promising life, pleasure, and good things, only to realize these idols are liars moonlighting as joy. Oh Lord, forgive us for this foolishness! As a testimony to the ludicrousness of idol worship, Hosea writes, “My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles” (Hos. 4:12).

Ultimately, true joy and life cannot be found apart from Christ. Throughout Hosea, God uses the prophet to plead with His people to turn from life-draining idol worship to life-giving Himself worship.

In their song, “In Christ Alone,” Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty touch profoundly on the all-encompassing spring of life that can only be found in Christ.

In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.

3. God is a Zealous King – He Makes Himself Known to His People

After much patient pleading, still Israel strayed from God, going about the motions of religious duties with hearts positioned toward false gods. Ultimately, unrepented sin will lead to discipline (Hos. 5 and 6), although God takes no pleasure in it.

Hosea ends with a final plea to the Israelites to return to the Lord, but the rebelling nation turns a hardened heart and closed ears. In 722 B.C., they fell into the hands of captors.

Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God refused to forsake His bride. While sin temporarily blinded Israel and promised false safety, ultimately, captivity would serve as an effective and much needed wake-up call. Here we are reminded that God often uses unpleasant, uncomfortable circumstances to bring us back to Himself and help us know Him better.

With repentant, softened hearts, God’s people could finally say:

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (Hos. 6:1-3, emphasis mine).

Praise God that He passionately pursues each of His children, despite our unfaithfulness. Let us press on to know Him more!

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Johnna Wahrman is a guest contributor for this website. She is the happy wife of Andrew and mother of Anberlyn. She is passionate about writing, music, great books, and Jesus.

Read “Repentance That Leads To Death” here.

Read “Am I Sinning? Six Questions To Help You Navigate Gray Areas” here.

Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you—please leave a reply in the box below!