Luke 7:11-17
When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" He said (Luke 7:13, NLT).
The scene in today's passage finds a mother preparing to bury her only son. She's already lost her husband, and now her child. If you've ever lost a loved one, you're familiar with the grief and sorrow this woman must have been suffering.
Know what? So was Jesus.
The Bible says that Jesus' "heart overflowed with compassion" when He saw the grieving mother. He was moved emotionally to see her heartbroken--that's amazing! I mean, Jesus knew He could walk over and bring the young man back to life with just a touch or a word. He knew this woman wouldn't have to grieve for long. Still, He not only saw her pain, He felt it as well.
Did you know the same is true with you? When you hurt, when you cry, when life gets really tough and you think no one understands what you're going through, think again.
Jesus loves you more than you can even begin to fathom. He wants to walk with you through the dark moments and cry with you when your tears begin to fall. Yeah, He may know that everything's going to be OK in the end and He may understand things you don't, but that doesn't keep Him from hurting when you do.
It's so cool that we have a God who's not distant or cold-hearted, who just shouts out a bunch of "thou shalt nots" and cracks the whip when we get out of line.
We have a God who's full of love and compassion, who can relate to us and comfort us when all we can do is throw ourselves at His feet and cry.