Thoughtful Thursday -- He Understands

Last week, our Sunday School teacher shared the following illustration ...

There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk in a third grade classroom.  Suddenly ... there is a puddle between his feet, and the front of his pants is wet.  He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot believe this has just happened.  It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out, he will never hear the end of it.  And when the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives!

The boy puts his head down on his desk and prays, "Dear God, this is an emergency!  I need help now!  Five minutes from now, I'm dead meat!"

He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.  As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is walking by carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water.  Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl in the boy's lap.  The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying with great relief, "Thank you, Jesus!  Thank you, Jesus!"

Now, just as suddenly, he is the object of sympathy.  The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.  All the children are on their hands and knees around his desk, cleaning up the mess.  The sympathy is wonderful!

The ridicule that should have been his was transferred to someone else ... Susie.

As the day progresses, the sympathy grows better and Susie's ridicule grows worse.  At the end of the day, they are waiting for the bus.  Susie has been shunned by the other children.  The boy walks over to Susie and says, "Susie, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once, too."


What a perfect picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross!  He took our sin and our shame, and willingly transferred it to Himself.

And as if that wasn't enough, take a second and read Hebrews 4:15-16 ...

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was in all things tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Just like Susie ... He understands!  He not only understands, He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

That means I can approach Him with confidence, even boldness, with my doubts, my struggles, my pain, my sorrows, my disappointments ... and my grief.  And He is there, freely passing out mercy and grace to all who ask.  What a comfort in the time of need!