Job said these words in chapter 16, verse 6, “If I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away either.” These are the words of a man who was truly hurting. Have you ever hurt so bad that you didn’t know what to do and didn’t know where to turn? Job had so much pain in him that he couldn’t find a solution to relieve him of his heartache. Life had been difficult for him, with his family and possessions all ripped away from him.

There is no greater pain than the pain of being separated from someone you love. There is something about love that bonds hearts and relationships together in such a way that whenever loss occurs, it is devastating.

I think that’s what Job was going through, and the pain was overwhelming for him. He tried to talk his way through this pain, thinking that if he talked about the issues, the pain would subside. Then he tried to not talk about the issues, thinking that if, perhaps, he ignored them, they would mysteriously disappear. Well, no such luck! When pain sets its terrible hooks inside of you, it’s nearly impossible to detach oneself from the pangs of tribulation that result.

When this type of suffering occurs, we can only RUN TO the AUTHOR of LIFE, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can lift this burden. No other agent or entity has the means to ease one’s pain. Jesus suffered in all ways that He might relate to us and minister to us. I have been there when the only way for comfort was to lean on His majesty and His sovereignty.

I always take comfort in knowing that Jesus watches over the little birds of the air (Matthew 6:26), and if He’s watching and providing for them, then I can be assured that He is watching and providing for me as well. The only question that remains is whether or not God is able to truly care for me when I’m going through the valleys of this life.

One only needs to read Job chapters 38-41 with an open heart to reach the conclusion that God is the only One who is able to meet our deepest needs. Even Job reaches this conclusion in Job 42:5 when he acknowledges that “my ears HAD heard of you but NOW my eyes have seen you.”

This leads to this obvious conclusion: when we are hurting, truly hurting… we need to look no further than Jesus. When we understand His greatness and His authority, our problems will begin to diminish. He alone will walk us through the storm. He has… “been there, done that” when He died on the cross. He will see us through when we think we can’t go on.