By Camron Schofield, Audio: mp3

In the garden, Mary had stood weeping when Jesus was close beside her. Her eyes were so blinded by tears that she did not discern Him.

How many echo Mary’s despairing cry, “They have taken away the Lord, … and we know not where they have laid Him”! To how many might the Saviour’s words be spoken, “Why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” He is close beside them, but their tear-blinded eyes do not discern Him. He speaks to them, but they do not understand. {DA 794.5}

Oh must the heart of infinite love ache? There are those in their sufferings, crying, in misery, sorrow and Jesus stands right beside them. He wants to throw His arms around them to put their heads wet with tears upon His breast, to speak to them words of comfort, cheerful words, happy words. He wants to succor them and they don’t even know that He’s there.

“O fools, and slow of heart to believe” were Christ’s words. How often He would gather them as a hen gathers her chicken under her wings, yet they would not. He says:

Matthew 28:20 lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.

That is what He has promised. But do we believe it? Do we really believe that Jesus is with us always? When we forget that Jesus is there, and we fail to acknowledge His presence, how do you think He feels? Would he feel much the same as you would? Jesus was a real man. He was a man. He felt just as we felt.

A human body and a human mind were His. {3SM 129.4}

He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. {DA 311.4}

Jesus needed to eat. He needed to drink. He grew weary and needed rest. “A human body and a human mind were His.” He himself needed the companionship of fellow human beings. He found the rest that His weary human nature needed in the home of Lazarus, a fellow human being. And at the transfiguration, chosen above every angel around the throne, men, Moses and Elijah, were sent to comfort Jesus. And then we remember Gethsemane. He came to His disciples, wanting to hear comforting words, to know that they understood what He was going through, to know that they were praying for Him, but He found them sleeping. He needed sympathy in His suffering. He needed to hear words of comfort. Just like you and me.

We’ll read of it, when He came to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane:

The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering. {DA 687.3}

What longs for sympathy? The human heart.

This longing Christ felt to the very depths of His being. {DA 687.3}

Why? Because He had a human heart. He felt that longing for sympathy to the very depths of His being.

In the supreme agony of His soul He came to His disciples with a yearning desire to hear some words of comfort from those whom He had so often blessed and comforted, and shielded in sorrow and distress. The One who had always had words of sympathy for them was now suffering superhuman agony, and He longed to know that they were praying for Him and for themselves. How dark seemed the malignity of sin! Terrible was the temptation to let the human race bear the consequences of its own guilt, while He stood innocent before God. If He could only know that His disciples understood and appreciated this, He would be strengthened. {DA 687.3}

He would be comforted. It would have helped Him in His sufferings. But He found them asleep. What did they do after that? They forsook Him and fled. He looked for some to take pity but there was none, and for comforters, but found none. Therefore it is written:

Isaiah 63:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me:

Jesus was alone. Jesus was a real man. Just as you and I need sympathy in our sufferings, He also needed sympathy in His sufferings. He himself needed to hear words of comfort. He needed succor. He needed the companionship of fellow human beings.

Of Jesus our high priest, what is written of Him?

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.

We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Read that carefully and you will see that our high priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmities in heaven, before the throne of grace:

Christ has never forgotten the days of His humiliation. In passing from the scenes of His humiliation, Jesus has lost none of His humanity. He has the same tender, pitying love, and is ever touched with human woe. He ever bears in mind that He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. He forgets not His representative people who are striving to uphold His downtrodden law. He knows that the world that hated Him, hates them. Although Jesus Christ has passed into the heavens (He is there in the sanctuary), there is still a living chain binding His believing ones to His own heart of infinite love. The most lowly and weak are bound by a chain of sympathy closely to His heart. He never forgets that He is our representative, that He bears our nature. {HP 284.3}

Why doesn’t He forget that He bears our nature? Do you ever forget that you are a human being? He is still touched with our woe. He is still touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He still has that human heart that feels just like you feel. If we remember the story of Adam:

After the creation of Adam every living creature was brought before him to receive its name; he saw that to each had been given a companion, but among them “there was not found an help meet for him.” (There wasn’t anyone for him) Among all the creatures that God had made on the earth, there was not one equal to man. And God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Man was not made to dwell in solitude; he was to be a social being. Without companionship the beautiful scenes and delightful employments of Eden would have failed to yield perfect happiness. Even communion with angels could not have satisfied his desire for sympathy and companionship. There was none of the same nature to love and to be loved. {PP 46.1}

They would not have yielded perfect happiness without the companionship of a fellow human being. Even the communion with the angels could not have satisfied that desire for sympathy. Angels can’t understand what a man is going through, angels can’t give them sympathy. They have to be those of the same nature to love and to be loved. There in heaven is our high priest who is still touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He has taken upon Himself our humanity. He still needs the companionship of fellow human beings.

He who dwells in the heavenly sanctuary judges righteously. {COL 176.1}

He dwells, in the heavenly sanctuary.

His pleasure is more in His people, struggling with temptation in a world of sin, than in the host of angels that surround His throne. {COL 176.1}

All the communion of the angels cannot satisfy His need of companionship. Therefore as He has become so much as one with us. His pleasure, His joy, His satisfaction is in His people. Who are His people? Those that struggle with temptation. What a comfort. What a beautiful understanding and appreciation. Even the communion with angels cannot satisfy His desire for love and sympathy. They have to be those of the same nature to love and to be loved.

Enoch, Moses and Elijah aren’t they already there? Didn’t Christ when He was resurrected take with Him a multitude of captives? They were all human beings. Yet His pleasure is more in His people who are struggling with temptation in this world of sin. He already has fellow human beings. How come He doesn’t find joy in their communion? Well He can. We quite often refer to Christ as a personal Saviour, but how personal is Jesus Christ?

The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son. {SC 100.1}

The relation between God and me, between God and you are as distinct and full as though there was not another soul upon the earth. There He is with all these human beings in heaven but as far as Jesus is concerned in His dealings with humanity, He has become so much at one with us individually, that in His dealings with us there is nobody else. You have His undivided attention. Jesus’ pleasure is in you. He needs your companionship. Without your companionship Jesus is alone. Do we understand that? Jesus deals with each of us as though there was not another person on the earth. Jesus has so much forsaken with me in my humanity, that my need for companionship, He himself has. If I fail to acknowledge Him, He is left there alone.

How many echo Mary’s despairing cry, “They have taken away the Lord, . . . and we know not where they have laid Him”! To how many might the Saviour’s words be spoken, “Why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” He is close beside them, but their tear-blinded eyes do not discern Him. He speaks to them, but they do not understand. {DA 794.5}

How do you think He feels? He’s standing there wanting to succor them wanting to help and comfort them and they don’t even know it. They’re the ones who think that they’re alone. He is who is alone. We hear his plea, His cry to those who do not acknowledge Him:

Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.

3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree

Adultery? Not Him, they’re off with someone else. But see, “now I will not keep anger”, “I am merciful”.

Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree

3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take
you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

He will bring you to Himself, He will receive you as a husband receives His wife. Here He is, married and there they are with someone else. How would you feel if your partner committed adultery? As a human being, how would you feel? We don’t even want to think that. But Christ Himself is a human being. Just what you would feel, He himself feels when we fail to acknowledge Him. He has taken our humanity upon Himself. He has taken your sin, He has carried your cross. He has endured your sorrow and suffered your grief and what did He do it for? So that He could have your companionship. So that He could have the pleasure and the joy of bringing you comfort, in your sorrows. He wants to love you. He wants to give you sympathy.

Our Saviour wants you to keep in close relation to Himself, that He may make you happy. {FLB 123.5}

Why does He want to be close to you? So that He can make you happy.

When Christ lets His blessing rest upon us, we should offer thanksgiving and praise to His dear name. But, you say, {FLB 123.5}

Is it you that is saying this? In your sorrows, in your sufferings, when Jesus is right there wanting to make you happy. Is this you?

But, you say, if I could only know that He is my Saviour! Well, what kind of evidence do you want? Do you want a special feeling or emotion to prove that Christ is yours? {FLB 123.5}

Do you? Do you want a special feeling or emotion to prove that Christ is yours?

Is this more reliable than pure faith in God’s promises? Would it not be better to take the blessed promises of God and apply them to yourself, bearing your whole weight upon them? This is faith. {FLB 123.5}

Faith has nothing to do with feeling. If you’re going to rely upon a happy little flight of emotional tingle down the spine, it’s not going to confirm your faith. It’s not going to convince your inner most heart that Jesus is right there with you.

Our scripture reading John 20:27-29 spoke of Thomas. I remember as I grew up I knew Thomas by a different name. It was something added on to his name. Thomas to me was doubting Thomas. All the disciples had accepted the fact that Christ was risen but Thomas would not accept their word for it. He had to see for himself. In his touch he had to feel, he wanted that special feeling or emotion to prove that Christ was real.

John 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.

Where is Christ? He has passed into the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary. Can you see Him? Can you feel Him? “Blessed are they” who believe without seeing. So how then do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ whom I have not seen and cannot see? How do I have a relationship with a man that I cannot physically see? This is very valid question because the natural man cannot understand the things of God.

The things in our experience of our natural man, things that are unseen become eclipsed by the things that are seen. Our mind cannot penetrate beyond the visible. How then can I enjoy a relationship with Jesus?

Here is Christ knowing that it was not too long before He would leave the disciples and He would no longer be with them in physical presence:

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

14:17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,

The Holy Spirit cannot be seen for the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it doesn’t see Him. There is something about the Spirit of truth which must be seen otherwise than by the naked eye.

John 14:17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Christ was leaving and here He promised the Comforter and the Comforter would come and would dwell with you and would be in you. Can you see something that’s in you? No you can’t. Not even if you cut yourself open, you could not see the Holy Spirit.

John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Jesus sends His Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit Jesus comes to us. Where is the Holy Spirit? In us and that is where Jesus will be. He will be in us.

When we open our hearts to Jesus Christ, what sort of relationship do we have with Him?

Revelations 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him (Where? Into him), and will sup with him, and he with me.

In your relationship with Jesus, you are not going to hold personal, physical communion with Christ. He is going to come “in to” you, something that far surpasses any earthly relationship and yet a human being who is still touched with your world right there in you.

John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Jesus will manifest Himself to you.

Communion

You’re going to come to an understanding of Jesus and what He’s all about. He’s going to be manifested to you. How will the Holy Spirit manifest Jesus to you? How will Jesus manifest Himself to you?

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.

“I will manifest myself unto you.” Through the Holy Spirit, we will have communion with Jesus Himself.

John 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.

We read above what “he shall hear that shall he speak”. So the voice of the Holy Spirit that we hear in our experience is the voice of Jesus Himself. The Holy Spirit says nothing of Himself. He doesn’t speak of Himself but that which He hears, that which He sees, that is what He speaks and what He shows. Jesus Himself right there in your heart. When you hear a voice behind you, this is the way, walk ye in it, it’s the voice of Jesus dealing with you as though there is not another soul. He wants you to walk the same path that He walked.

A Personal Saviour

You will experience an intimate relationship with Jesus right there in your heart. How do the things that we experience inside of our heart except the things that we experience without of our heart, outside of our heart? If you are suffering a gloomy and a sad mentality and even though the sun is shining, clouds would be in the way and you go for a lovely bush walk and you want to see the beautiful spring flowers, you’ll see rocks. But when Jesus is in your heart, when you believe that yes, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is right here with me, what will be my experience? It comes down to faith.

Our experience in practical reality with a personal Saviour, how do we have a relationship with a man we cannot see? Only through the eye of faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is not the ground of our salvation, but it is the great blessing—the eye that sees, the ear that hears, the feet that run, the hand that grasps. It is the means, not the end. {HP 104.2}

By faith you will see Jesus. You will hear Him, you will walk with Him and you will hold His hand.

An Intímate Relationship

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for”. It is that which will produce a result.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Have we not proved this in the past as we have moved out in faith to produce the things now seen? {UL 72.4}

Realising our experience that when we have moved out in faith, there has been a result, something has happened in consequence.

Faith is not only to look forward to things unseen; {UL 72.4}

It doesn’t just look through to Jesus Christ’s second coming or the things of heaven. It doesn’t only look forward to things unseen.

it is to be confirmed by looking at past experience, at tangible results, {UL 72.4}

Tangible, something you can feel, something you can see.

the verification of God’s Word…. Pray, “Lord, increase my faith.” Faith quickens the senses to work diligently to produce results. Faith elevates and ennobles the powers of the soul, enabling it to lay hold upon the unseen…. {UL 72.4}

Faith is more than just the imagination. Faith is more than just an idea of the mind. It doesn’t just sit there and say “Oh yeah, that’s beautiful yeah, that’s great”. It will produce results, tangible results. It will quicken the senses. What are the senses? The eyes? The ears, the hands, the nose?

Let the children learn to see in nature an expression of the love and the wisdom of God; let the thought of Him be linked with bird and flower and tree; let all things seen become to them the interpreters of the unseen, and all the events of life be a means of divine teaching. {CG 52.1}

The things that are seen are to interpret the things that are not seen.

In the natural world God has placed in the hands of the children of men the key to unlock the treasure house of His Word. The unseen is illustrated by the seen; divine wisdom, eternal truth, infinite grace, are understood by the things that God has made. {CG 46.3}

Children should be encouraged to search out in nature the objects that illustrate Bible teachings, and to trace in the Bible the similitudes drawn from nature. They should search out, both in nature and in Holy Writ, every object representing Christ, and those also that He employed in illustrating truth. Thus may they learn to see Him in tree and vine, in lily and rose, in sun and star. They may learn to hear His voice in the song of birds, in the sighing of the trees, in the rolling thunder, and in the music of the sea. And every object in nature will repeat to them His precious lessons. {CG 46.4}

They are to see Him in the tree and the vine. But is there just the tree and the vine? Some might think so. The lily and the rose, the sun and the star, they’re just flowers and things that are up there in the skies. The song of birds, the sighing of the trees, that’s just the wind, the blowing of leaves, the rolling thunder, the physics of thunder, the crushing of the rocks, the water on the rocks. Aren’t they just things of nature? No, they’re not. It all depends on your frame of mind. If you believe that Jesus is with you, then things that are apparent to the naked eye will become more than that. You see Him in the lily and the rose, in the sun and star. You will hear His voice in the song of birds, in the sighing of the trees, in the rolling thunder, in the music of the seas. Your faith will produce tangible results, something that you can see, something that you can hear.

To those who thus acquaint themselves with Christ, the earth will nevermore be a lonely and desolate place. {CG 47.1}

Because everywhere I go! There’s Jesus. He’s showing them, He’s manifest Himself there, He’s talking to them.

It will be their Father’s house, filled with the presence of Him who once dwelt among men. {CG 47.1}

It all depends on how you perceive it. It all depends on what’s in your heart, what’s in your mind. Your faith will color everything that you do. It will pervade all of your actions. By believing that He is right there with you, by taking Him at His word, you will hear Him, you will see Him, you will never be alone. In trials and sufferings, what will be your experience? Apostle Paul speaks of “counting all things but loss” because there is nothing else that he sees that can give him the beautiful sense of God’s love.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The what? The fellowship of His sufferings. In your sufferings you will experience the companionship of Jesus. They are not your sufferings. They are His sufferings. He has taken all of your sorrows upon Himself, so that when you suffer, it’s His sufferings. He is suffering. So whatever is your experience, Jesus is there experiencing it with you.

We have felt Him in the humiliation; we have felt Him in the sacrifice; we have felt Him in the trials; we have felt Him in the test; {1SAT 132.1}

Have you felt Him? Have you been humiliated? Have you had to make a great sacrifice? Have you been tested? Right there was Jesus. “We have felt Jesus”, but did you know that He was there? It all depends on whether you think He’s there or not. When we come to make Jesus our personal companion, we will see that it is our privilege to suffer trial, a privilege to go through sorrows because we will be able to feel Jesus. We will be able to know that He is right there with us.

The Opposite of Trial and Tribulations

When you have peace, what will be the experience?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When you have peace, there is Jesus, right there because your peace is His peace. He has become so much at one with you, He is so yoked up to you that that which is yours is His. Your experiences that you make will illustrate to you that which you cannot see but only if you believe it. Only if you think: “Yes, Jesus is with me always”.

A.T. Jones puts forth a very simple illustration of faith: How do you know that A is A? Because you are told so. And B? What’s B? B is B. You believe this, and has it not proven true to you that A is A, B is B, C is not there. No, you believed that A is A, and you acted upon it, and it proved true. Even a man, if he was a thousand years old, and he had all his faculties, all of his senses were very clear and very sharp, but he didn’t know his ABC, he would have to become as a little child in order to learn them. He would have to take that simple faith that takes the word that A is A, and accept it, and act upon it. And so the scripture says: “Except you become as little children”

“My Daddy told me so, so it must be right.” Is that not how it is when you love someone? They tell you something, you believe it. You trust it. You take their word for it and you set out believing that that which they said is true. If my Father in heaven says so, so it must be true. When Jesus says, ‘ Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” It must be true.

Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

A is A. B is B. He is with you always and in with you, always. If you act upon it, it will prove true.

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him.

You have to taste in order to see that the Lord is good.

How shall we know for ourselves God’s goodness and His love? {5T 221.2}

How shall we know it for ourselves? Personally individually? How do I know that God is love?

The psalmist tells us—not, hear and know, read and know, or believe and know; but—”Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Instead of relying upon the word of another, taste for yourself. {5T 221.2}

Experience, isn’t that what we want? We want experience, we want to experience companionship with Jesus Christ. How do we get it?

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. {5T 221.3}

Tasting, trying, experimenting. That’s how we gain experience. That’s how we gain a relationship with Jesus Christ, by experimenting.

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. Experimental religion is what is needed now. {5T 221.3}

Something that says: “Okay Jesus, you’ve said it, but though I can’t see it, I’m going to act upon it.” And you act upon it and as you do that, it proves true. It will produce a tangible result. You will be able to look back and say: “Yes, I know He was with me.” And as you come to every other trial that you have in your experience, whether it be a mountain top or a valley, you will know that Jesus is right there with you. But if you never taste, if you never try Him, how will your faith ever be confirmed?

Some—yes, a large number—have a theoretical knowledge of religious truth, but have never felt the renewing power of divine grace upon their own hearts. These persons are ever slow to heed the testimonies of warning, reproof, and instruction indited by the Holy Spirit. They believe in the wrath of God, but put forth no earnest efforts to escape it. They believe in heaven, but make no sacrifice to obtain it. They believe in the value of the soul and that erelong its redemption ceaseth forever. Yet they neglect the most precious opportunities to make their peace with God. {5T 221.3}

They may read the Bible, but its threatenings do not alarm or its promises win them. They approve things that are excellent, yet they follow the way in which God has forbidden them to go. They know a refuge, but do not avail themselves of it. They know a remedy for sin, but do not use it. They know the right, but have no relish for it. All their knowledge will but increase their condemnation. They have never tasted and learned by experience that the Lord is good. {5T 221.4}

Only by experiment can we gain that experience. How do I have a relationship with a man I cannot see? By taking His word and acting upon it. I will know that He’s right there with me. But if I never do, then I will never know. Take His Word, and act upon it. If He says that He is with you, then believe it, and act as though He is. His life will be your life because you are one with Him. When you are called to face the world, you will face it with Jesus, and as Jesus faced it. You will not be afraid because the Lord God Almighty, the King of heaven and earth is right there with you.

Deuteronomy 20:2-4 are the counsels that were given to the Israelites before they would go to war and it is something that the priests were to remind them of every time they went to face the elements of the world:

Deuteronomy 20:2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

20:3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;

20:4 For the LORD your God [is] he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

You will not be afraid. But what about when you go through your sorrows?

Through all our trials we have a never-failing Helper. He does not leave us alone to struggle with temptation, to battle with evil, and be finally crushed with burdens and sorrow. Though now He is hidden from mortal sight, the ear of faith can hear His voice saying, Fear not; I am with you. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore.” Revelation 1:18. I have endured your sorrows, experienced your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears; (Why does He know your tears?) I also have wept. The griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear, I know. Think not that you are desolate and forsaken. Though your pain touch no responsive chord in any heart on earth, look unto Me, and live. {DA 483.1}

What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear to Him goes. Jesus is real. All of our sorrows, all of our joys, they are His. So when we forget that He is there with us, when we go through our hardships and we forget that He’s there, we leave Him to tread the winepress alone. Because our sufferings are His sufferings and if we are not with Him in our sufferings, He is there in our sufferings without us. How would His heart ache? There is no one else. There’s just you and Jesus. But if you are not suffering with Jesus, not only are you suffering alone but Jesus is suffering what you’re suffering on His own. And what do we want in our suffering? Sympathy? What would Jesus want in His suffering? Sympathy. Will we be like the disciples? Will He find you sleeping when He comes? He’s still touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He Himself needs sympathy in His sufferings, which are the consequences of our own actions. Are we going to leave Him alone to suffer then? Here He is suffering the consequences of my own actions:

Lamentations 1:12-14 [Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me,

His sorrow, it is His sorrow. But it was ours, but He made it His. “Is it nothing to you?” Are you just going to cross over the road and pass by on the other side? But you will look every now and then and say, “Oh, yes… I’m sorry Jesus” and then continue on the way? Will we leave Jesus alone to suffer? He’s done this, so that when we suffer, He can suffer with us. When we leave Him out of our suffering, how does He feel? How would you feel?

The heart of infinite love and it’s aching when those that do not respond…

Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Who is wisdom? Christ is wisdom. Christ cries without, He uttereth His voice in the street.

Proverbs 1:21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, [saying],

1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

Who is this speaking to, here? Who is it the He desires to pour out His Spirit upon? Is it not those to the last days? Here, Jesus is speaking directly to us.

Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

1:24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

He’s waiting there! “Take my hand! Take it!” He says. But no man regarded it.

Proverbs 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

1:27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

1:28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

1:30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

He says : “Alright. If you don’t want me, you don’t want to listen, you don’t want to hear my voice, saying: “This is the way”. This is fine. Walk your own way. But you’re going to eat of the fruit of your own way.” And even that He says in love, because He will not push Himself upon us. He says “knocking of the heart’s door”. If you don’t want Jesus, you don’t have to Him, but He wants you.

Proverbs 1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

1:32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Can you hear His cry? “I’m holding out my hands here, all the day long.” Why is it all the day long? Because in every experience that we make, He is there with us. He wants to be there with us. He will never leave us, nor forsake us, for all the day long. No matter what our experience is, He’s there. “Take my hand, I will help you.”

Don’t leave Jesus out. Do not leave Jesus there alone. That’s what happens when people leave the church. They’re leaving Jesus alone. They turn their back on Him and they walk away. Would you like it if someone did that to you? If Christ is knocking on your door, saying, “Let me in. I want to fellowship with you in your suffering.” Open wide the door! Don’t leave His aching heart outside. You would not have liked it if He did it to you, would you? No, you wouldn’t. Then do unto Him as you would have Him do unto you. Bring Jesus into every experience of your life. Make Him your constant companion. In the trial, in the joy, you will have fellowship with a man who knows just how you feel, and knows how to make you feel better. But you, yourself, must taste and see that He is good. And now, it may be at first a little bit bitter, but if crying into those waters of self-denial and affliction, you will find that it is sweet. It is my prayer that we will do just that.

May we take the Word, may we take Jesus and prove Him. May we taste Him. May we test Him and experience with Him, and we will know that He is my companion. May we not leave Him outside the door. May we not leave Him alone.

It is my prayer, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.