Backstory:

On an RVVL podcast episode I listened to, David Butler said something that has stayed with me. He said something like: there’s something about that story in the Bible that helps me trust Jesus today. Through all the hard things He went through, Jesus proved faithful in every moment. When He doubted, He proved faithful. When it was excruciating, He proved faithful. That gives me confidence that He will prove faithful now—especially when things are hard or excruciating for me. I believe He sits with me in those emotions even today. We often talk about how Jesus experienced our pains in the past, but I actually think He experiences them again. He’s the Prince of Empathy. He sits with us, and I think He feels our pain in the very moment we feel it. And He doesn’t give up. He will prove faithful to every promise He has made.

The Prince of Empathy

Jesus as the Prince of Empathy feels everything with us,

He understands all of our emotions and that for us is a big plus.

He feels our pains so deeply as if He were inside our experience too,

And He can help us feel better when we are feeling blue.

He experienced all of our pains and emotions when He was on the earth,

And He did this out of His amazing love for us so we could know our Divine Worth.

In the Garden, He felt all of the pains we would feel in this life,

And He didn’t shy away from experiencing all of the awful strife.

Even though it was excruciating and painful for Him,

He felt it all so that our lives wouldn’t seem so grim.

He proved faithful until the end,

So that in Him we could find our truest and best friend.

He feels our pains with us every day,

And He feels it more deeply than we could ever adequately say.

When we feel like crying, we can picture Him embracing us,

We can cry on His Loving Shoulder so that we don’t feel like making a big fuss.

Even when we feel all alone

And like our trials and struggles are to everyone unknown.

We can turn to Jesus to help our hearts heal from all of the painful moments we experience,

And with Him by our side, in our darkest times, we can feel more resilience.

The Takeaway: We as Christians often talk about the suffering Jesus endured on our behalf while He was on the earth. But I don’t think we can picture Him with us in our suffering that we go through on a daily basis. Jesus, as the Prince of Empathy experiences all of our emotions, even the painful and excruciating ones with us. He will sit by us in our darkest and hardest moments. We just need to reach out to Him and His arms will be open to receive us.