Sabbath Devotional :: Borne Our Griefs and Carried Our Sorrows

Hands — Photo Courtesy of McKenna Phillips on Unsplash

Isaiah 53:4-5 reads, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Alma 7:11-12 states: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy.”

And Doctrine and Covenants 19:18 reads: “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the butter cup, and shrink.”

These verses become easier to read over time. The reality of the depth of the pain Christ endured can be easy to become desensitized to, and the price of healing and comfort can be easily glossed over.

But every now and then, I think it’s helpful to really try to stop and absorb the magnitude of what these verses say, to really stop and sit in the fact that our healing, our peace, our hope came at such a great cost. That reality is heavy and hard to bear. It can lead to feelings of deep sorrow and inadequacies and even to questions like why did the cost have to be so great?

Thinking of anybody suffering for all the iniquity and pain endured in this world—it’s simply unimaginable. That’s so much pain; it’s so much suffering. And yet, Christ endured it for us because he loved us. So much of Christ’s ministry involved healing and bearing witness to pain, and yet he didn’t falter because of the deep love he had for each of us.

Fortunately, we are not asked to take on all the iniquity and pain of the world upon ourselves, but we are asked to parallel Christ’s actions and demonstrate that same unfaltering, deep love. In Mosiah 18:9, the people covenant that they are “willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” In verse 11, they said, “This is the desire of our hearts.”

Likewise, part of our call to follow Christ and “take up our crosses,” involves bearing witness to pain, mourning with those that mourn, and sitting in painful spaces. To truly mourn with somebody involves us taking other people’s pains on ourselves in a parallel, albeit a small one, to the suffering Christ endured.

We too are meant to bear griefs and carry sorrow and to help carry the griefs and sorrows of others. However, to do this, we have to love deeply, and we have to mightily rely on Christ to do so. Ultimately, we have to know when we need to lay this grief down at the feet of Him who is greater than us. We have to trust that we can let go of the sorrow, the senseless pain and receive healing. We have to keep perspective and hope to not let the sorrow and grief consume us.

That’s no easy feat. But it’s the one we are called to do. To love deeply enough that we too are willing to grieve, to mourn without losing hope. To love deeply enough that we don’t falter. This type of suffering as we say at MWEG is sacred — not easy — but sacred.