We find a nearness of Christ in the midst of agony. It is as though we can flip the infinitely famous passage in Hebrews 4:15 around on itself, and find comfort in suffering. That in our weakness, we sympathize with our perfect high priest, who has endured every aspect of our human experience, and yet he did it without sin. And when we suffer with him and like him, though always tainted with sin, we understand what he has endured on our behalf, just a little bit more.

“Enough is enough!”

There are times this is the very cry of our hearts. Oh sure, we believe the truths that God’s grace is sufficient for each day. We believe we need not worry—that God cares for us. We believe he always provides the means to bear up underneath the present burdens (1 Cor 10:13). But doesn’t our experience often seem to disagree with these things we know to be true? We think, “I can’t take one more thing, Lord!” Or, “now this feels like the single straw that breaks…not the camel’s back…but my back!”

I’m sure this has been your experience. It may be your experience at this very moment, thinking you might not be able to keep going. Hebrews 12:3-4 is a close friend in times like these. Of the Lord Jesus, the author says:

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

That latter sentence may feel like a heavy word. It may strike you as, “You think your present difficulties are rough, it isn’t near as rough as it could be!” I have seen many disheartened by interpreting this passage in such a way. As though God were saying “suck it up, it’s not as bad as you think”—like the uncaring parent who flippantly says to the injured child “walk it off” or “brush it off.”

But that is actually the farthest thing from the Lord’s encouragement here. It is just the opposite. The first sentence (vs 4) grounds us in how we should be interpreting the second sentence (vs 5). The author is actually calling us to look upon Christ who did endure to the furthest extent. He alone is the person who bore the full brunt of suffering this life has to throw at us, and he overcame!

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