My mom has been struggling with dementia for several years now. When I was there visiting, she complained about her feet hurting, so I began to rub them. She looked at me and asked, “Can’t you feel that pain?” The question puzzled me until I realized that, by her reasoning, because I was touching her feet I should be able to feel her pain. Of course, I couldn’t feel her pain. I could only be compassionate and try to sympathize.
When I studied Spanish in college, I was impressed with the term used for “I’m sorry.” In Spanish, you say, “Lo siento,” which literally means, “I feel it.” When we apologize from a true heart, we recognize the pain that our words or actions have brought to someone else and we are sorrowful because of that pain. “Lo siento” expresses this. But again, we can’t really understand another person’s pain. Proverbs 14:10 says, “The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.”
There is One who can know and feel our pain, though. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses. Having come to earth in human form, he “in every respect has been tempted as we are.” He knows about all of our struggles. Proverbs 15:11 tells us that He knows the deepest places of our hearts. But our God goes beyond understanding us and caring for us. Isaiah 63:9 talks about God’s relationship with His people: “In all their affliction He was afflicted…in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” Isaiah 53 speaks of how Christ “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
When God touches us, He truly does feel our pain. He bears it with us and for us. Matthew 11:28-29 gives us these words spoken by Jesus: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He tells us to bring our hurts, our pain, and our cares to Him and find rest. What a wonderful Savior we have!