Octavius Winslow (1808-1878)
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. —Hebrews 4:15
See Him bearing our sicknesses and our sorrows –more than this, carrying our iniquities and our sins. Think not that your path is unique. The incarnate God has trodden it before you, and He can give you the clear eye of faith to discern His footprint in every step.
Jesus can say, and He does say, to you, “I know your sorrow. I know what that cross is, for I have carried it. You have not a burden that I did not bear, nor a sorrow that I did not feel, nor a pain that I did not endure, nor a path that I did not tread, nor a tear that did not bedew My eye, nor a cloud that did not shade My spirit before you and for you.
Is it bodily weakness? I once walked forty miles to carry the living water to a poor sinner at Samaria. Is it the sorrow of bereavement? I wept at the grave of My friend, although I knew that I was about to recall the loved one back again to life.
Is it the frailty and the fickleness of human friendship? I stood by and heard My person denied by lips that once spoke kindly to Me, lips now renouncing Me with an oath that once vowed affection unto death.
Is it difficulty of circumstance, the galling sense of dependence? I was no stranger to poverty and was often nourished and sustained by the charity of others.
Is it that you are houseless and friendless? So was I. The foxes hid in their shelter, and the birds winged to their nests; but I, though Lord of all, had nowhere to lay My head. Often, day after day passed away, and no soothing accents of friendship fell on My ear.
Is it the burden of sin? Even that I bore in its accumulated and tremendous weight when I hung accursed on the tree.”
