Eyes Wide Open: 41-Day Lenten Devotional Sample

The Suffering Messiah

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16

I am writing this on the Monday following yet another national tragedy where innocent people were killed during the normal course of their workday. This is not the first event of this kind, nor will it be the last. We live in a sin-riven world—a world where Christ has already come and a world where things have not yet been fully set right. In this time of “already but not yet,” these kinds of events can create within us a cry, asking where God is and why he does not defend the innocent. 

In his book Byzantium, Christian historical fiction author Stephen Lawhead tells the story of two persons: one a barbarian Viking and the other an educated monk, St. Aidan (Aidan of Lindisfarne, circa 651 AD), both of whom endured slavery, torture, and killings. 

For the Viking, who learned about Jesus from Aidan, these hardships created within him a hope for a future union with Christ, who died to reconcile him to God the Father, yet for Aidan, it created a separation from his faith, an anger that God had somehow abandoned them. This struggle with doubt comes to a climax when Aidan reflects:

Aidan, you have been blind. You have beheld the Truth, stared long upon it, yet failed to perceive so much as the smallest glimpse of all that was shown you. God became man, shouldering the weight of sufferings so that on the final day none could say, “Who are you to judge the world? What do you know of injustice? What do you know of torture, sickness, poverty? How dare you call yourself a righteous God! What do you know of death? …. He knows, Aidan, He knows. 

During these times of hurt, anger, disappointment, and grief, we, too have a choice of either turning away from the God who loves us and endured all things that we do, and more, or clinging to him more firmly, recognizing that we worship a God who is able to empathize with us in our suffering. 

He knows, dear brother, he knows. He knows, dear sister, he knows.

Prayer: Lord Christ, I believe. Help me in my unbelief. Spirit, help me to recognize my arrogance in thinking that I would somehow be shielded from the suffering Christ endured, instead of knowing that he walks through it with me. I pray for mercy and grace during my time of need. Amen.

- Written by Laura Barwegen