An entire time ago, an advertising campaign was launched “designed to effect a shift in how people view Jesus and his role to our lives” in accordance with the statement of mission.
“He Does Us” has created black and white television ads that emphasize Jesus his earthly journey and targets millennials as well as Gen Z, promoting that Jesus knows the way we feel. In my own life, at times I’ve wondered if God knows how I feel. Perhaps you’ve had the same question.
When I witness injustices committed on the part of people, I am determined to end the injustice. When I witness family members and friends who are suffering from severe illnesses and deaths I am devastated. When I see the senseless acts of evil, I am shocked. Is God truly understand how I feel?
The story that I was told years ago gives an answer. In the final moments of time millions of people gathered on an immense plain in front of God’s throne. A few of the crowds close to the front spoke ferociously, not with shameful sighs however, but with anger.
A woman asked “How do God decide on us? What does He know about the suffering?’ pulled her sleeves, showing the tattooed number of an Nazi prison.
Another group was dominated by a man of black lowers his collar, revealing an ugly burn on his rope “What do you think of that?” he exclaimed as he demanded God be the one to explain the lynching he endured.
Out in the plains were a multitude of these groups. Every one of them had a grievance against God for the injustice and suffering that He permitted in His creation.
How fortunate God was to have lived in heaven , where everything was bliss and light, and in which there was no crying and no fear, hunger, and no hatred. In fact, what did God know about the suffering man was confronted with in the world?
Each group had an individual leader, selected because the person who suffered the most. There were Jew as well as a black person and an untouchable man person from India and an unlegitimate person individual who was from Hiroshima and one from an Siberian slavery camp. In the middle in the middle of the field, the group had a meeting among themselves.
They decided that God was to be punished and condemned to exist as a human being! Since God was God they put in place certain rules to make sure He would not be able to use His divine power to assist Him.
“Let him be born to be a Jew. Let His birth be questioned to ensure that no one will ever know the real identity of His father. Let Him be a champion for the cause of justice yet so radical that it smacks down on Him the resentment and the condemnation and thwarts the efforts of each important religious and traditional authority.”
“Let Him be swindled by His most dearest companions. Let Him be indicted for false charges, tried by an inexperienced jury and found guilty by a defiant judge. Let Him know what it’s like to be totally alone and without a single living thing. Let Him suffer and let Him go to the grave! Let Him be buried in the most shameful manner – by ordinary thieves.
When each speaker announced the portion of his sentence, loud screams of approval echoed from the large crowd of participants. When the last speaker was done pronouncement of sentence and the crowd was silent, there was a prolonged silence.
There was no further word spoken. There was no movement. Since everyone was aware that ….God was already serving His sentence. He was with us and understands “with our weaknesses, infirmities” and struggles (Hebrews 4:15, NKJ). Indeed, God does understand how we feel!
HTML0 — Jan White has compiled a collection of her columnists in her book “Everyday faith for Daily Life.”
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