If you’re one who is grieving the loss of something or someone, and your heart is hurting and you’re in mourning, Jesus understands and Jesus cares. Remember Jesus as He went to the grave of His friends, Mary and Martha. Recall how He wept (John 11:35). His heart was heavy with loss, the pain of those who were there weeping, and the compassion He felt for His friends.
This story shows us that Jesus cares, that He feels, that He loves, that He has compassion. If you’d like, remind yourself of this very truth as you watch this video.
But dear one, if you have experienced loss and have a heart full of grief, Jesus not only understands and feels your heart pain with you, but through the gospel He entirely undoes the effects of your loss. In John 11 Jesus not only wept, He went on to raise Lazarus from the dead, entirely undoing the effects of their loss. Because Jesus suffered and died on the cross and shed His own blood for our sins, you will one day know complete and total restoration.
Let the compassion of Jesus warm your heart just now, let His love fill you and encourage you. Consider this truth: Jesus died to replace the ashes of your life with beauty. “He will give a crown of beauty for ashes.” Look at the cross and you will see that Jesus wore a crown of thorns for you so that you could wear the “crown of life” (James 1:12) which is a crown of beauty. He, Himself became, as it were, “ashes” on the cross so that you might one day enjoy complete and total restoration of everything of value that you have lost. Oh how He loves your heart, which is clear by what He suffered on the cross!
The next result of the gospel is that Jesus gives “the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
Friend, maybe like me you’ve had a spirit of despair, which is the Bible’s name for depression. This spirit of despair might be continual thoughts of hopelessness, overwhelming feelings of gloom, sadness or dejection. Maybe this spirit of despair makes you listless and hopeless as it did me for so many years.
Question 3. What has your spirit of despair been like for you personally?
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Harris writes, "It is been like a heaviness on my soul. Like a stone or a rock pressing my soul."