Sunday’s psalm was a change of pace. Rather than the upbeat psalms of thanksgiving that we’ve started this series with, Psalm 13 is a lament. It’s an expression of grief that the world isn’t what it should be, but it’s also a reminder that God’s faithfulness endures in the face of it all.

At one point in the sermon, I read a quotation from A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. As you might have noticed, I love metaphors and C.S. Lewis was a master of them. He had a gift for painting a picture with words and, once I’ve read it, I can’t help but say, “That’s exactly what it’s like!” For example, he wrote, “Grief is like a bomber circling round and dropping its bombs each time the circle brings it overhead.” A Grief Observed is my favorite C.S. Lewis book because it helps name something as hard to describe as grief.

But one of my favorite passages in the book isn’t a metaphor at all and it comes towards the end of the book. Lewis expresses something that many of us have felt before. Our own suffering can cause us grief but, because we were made for relationships with other people, our greatest source of grief is frequently the suffering of another. Few things wreck us like watching a loved one ache and feeling helpless to do anything about it.

That’s how Lewis felt as his wife died of cancer. He would have rather suffered himself than to see her suffer. If he could have taken her place, he would have…or so he thought. Have you ever felt that way before? In response to this desire, Lewis wrote:

And then one babbles – “If only I could bear it, or the worst of it, or any of it, instead of her.” But one can’t tell how serious that bid is, for nothing is staked on it. If it suddenly became a real possibility, then for the first time, we should discover how seriously we had meant it. But is it ever allowed? It was allowed to One, we are told, and I find I can now believe again, that He has done vicariously whatever can be done. He replies to our babble, “You cannot and you dare not. I could and I dared.”

Grief like that gives us insight into the heart of God – specifically into his heart for you. When Jesus saw us suffering, he chose to bear it himself rather than leave it to us. He didn’t just say it; he did it. Only one person has ever had the option to bear all the suffering of another. It was Jesus on the cross.

We know, in general, that suffering has come into the world through sin. However, we rarely get the satisfaction of knowing the specific reasons for our specific suffering. It’s often left as an open question on this side of heaven. But the gospel scratches off one possible answer. Our suffering can’t be because God doesn’t care. Jesus took on the guilt of our sin and suffered in our place. He suffered to end our suffering.

As we carry our burdens, let’s remember that God has been faithful to us in Christ. Like David, we can sing even through tears because God has dealt bountifully with us. He could and he dared to suffer for us.