That great Chapter 53 of Isaiah describes the first coming of the Messiah. We know that description fit Christ Jesus our Savior, who was rejected and brutalized by those He came to save. Part of that description says that He was “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” [Isaiah 53:3 NKJV]
As I read through that chapter, I was drawn to those three words, “acquainted with grief.” To some extent, those three words describe life. At some point, all of us will become “acquainted with grief.”
It may come sooner for some, or later for others, but grief is a certainty. I say that not because I am a fatalist or pessimist. In fact, I am an optimist! However, when sin and death entered this world as mankind rebelled in the Garden of Eden, grief became a certainty.
Grief becomes our companion when we lose a loved one. It walks with us when health is threatened. It abides in our aging. It flows through our sin (and the sin of others against us) as well as sin’s consequences. Once grief arrives, it never completely leaves.
But the one thing that I take great comfort in is those few words that precede “acquainted with grief” in Isaiah’s passage … our LORD is a “Man of Sorrows”, and He knows what it is like to be “acquainted with grief.”
My LORD knows grief. And not only does He know it, but He can also provide comfort to us when grief threatens to overwhelm. Hear what Paul said:
“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows.” [2 Corinthians 1:3-5 HCSB]
We may be “acquainted with grief,” but because of Christ Jesus, “our comfort also overflows.” Amen & Amen
