Thursday, January 6, 2011

a God who feels pain

a few days ago, ashley and i were at the pediatrician with ava. she was getting her 4month checkup, which unfortunately included...vaccinations. yep. if you're a parent, you're already feelin' me.

this wasn't her first time. i was at work when she got her first shot, but right afterward, ashley called me from the doctor's office so that i could listen in on what sounded like a monster metamorphosis as ava was being introduced to pain. so i was dreading the prospect of actually seeing her experience it.

i even said to ash: "i can almost feel the pain."

and then i reflected on that for a moment. i've been guilty in the past of thinking that God is removed from our pain because of His infinite knowledge. in other words, sometimes i've thought that he doesn't waste time feeling our pain, not because He doesn't care, but because He knows that what we're going through is for our good and only temporary. but I had that same knowledge about Ava's pain and yet it didn't stop me from grieving for her, hurting with her. i knew that she'd be smiling again in a matter of minutes and i even knew that looking back on it, she would see good in it. but my heart couldn't help hurting with her...simply because she was hurting.

how much more does God know our pain? He has infinite knowledge (Isaiah 46:9-10), well beyond ours (Isaiah 55:9), yet he is intimately aware of how we feel (Hebrews 4:15) and He cares (1 Peter 5:7).

God's infinite knowledge should bring us great confidence (because He's ordained how it'll all work out) but his ability to empathize should bring us great comfort.

1 comment:

AQueen said...

Wow! What an awesome revelation! Thanks for this