April 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4).

Devotional

In order to perfect his character as the High Priest of his people, the Brother born for adversity (Prov. 17:17), in order to "sympathize with our weaknesses" (Heb. 4:15), he himself had to suffer. He had to know from painful experience what sorrow meant—what a wounded spirit and a broken bleeding heart, a burdened and a darkened mind, were. In this school he had to be taught, and disciplined, and trained. He had to "learn obedience by what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). He had to be made "perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10). And oh, how deeply has he been taught! And how thoroughly has he been trained! And how well has he learned thus to sympathize with his suffering church!

You may have gone to an earthly friend with your trouble. You unfolded your tale of woe. You unveiled every feeling and emotion. But, ah! how the blank look, the wandering eye, the listless manner, and the cool response showed that your friend, with all his love, could not enter into your case! The concern that darkened your brow had never shaded his. The sorrow that tore your heart had never touched his. He had never tasted the cup you were drinking. What was missing? Sympathy, growing out of an identity of circumstance.

You have gone to Another. He has walked that same path before you. He has passed through that very trouble. His spirit has been accustomed to grief, his heart schooled in trial. Sorrow in some of its acutest forms has been his companion. And now he is prepared to fix on you a melting eye, to lend an attentive ear and a feeling heart. He is ready to say, "Brother, sister, I have known all; I have felt all; I have passed through all—I can sympathize with all."

That Friend of friends, that Brother of brothers, is Jesus. Jesus himself has gone before you. He has left a fragrance on the brim of that very cup you are now drinking. He has left the traces of his own blood on and wet with his own tears the very path along which you are now walking. He has been taught in that very school in which you are now learning.

What encouragement, then, to take your case in the sweet simplicity of faith and to lay it before the Lord! Go and tell Jesus, confessing to him and over him, the sin which has called forth the chastisement, and then the grief which that chastisement has occasioned. What a wonderful High Priest is Jesus! As the bleeding Sacrifice, you may lay your hand of faith upon his head, and acknowledge your deepest guilt. And, as the merciful Priest, you may lay your head on his bosom, and disclose your deepest sorrow.

O my precious Savior! Must you sink to this deep humiliation and endure this bitter suffering in order to enter into my lonely sorrow?

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
ev'rything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
ev'rything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged:
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our ev'ry weakness—
take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our Refuge—
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
in his arms he'll take and shield thee,
thou wilt find a solace there.

(Joseph Scriven, 1855)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.