Does Jesus Care About Our Struggles…Really?
Only the muffled weeping breaks through the sounds of the silence as they stand beside their loved one waiting for the moment when the mom, the grandmother, the wife, husband, or child… would take leave of their earth suits and be transformed into bodies of a spectacular nature.
For the person who has lost a spouse and is experiencing grief and loneliness beyond anything they would have imagined, does Jesus Care?
For someone who seems to be losing a long battle with an illness for which they have cried out to God so many times for healing, but hasn’t seen it yet, does Jesus care?
Perhaps it’s not death or physical illness. Maybe it’s a sad heart or intense fear brought on by depression or anxiety. As the hymn says, maybe it’s a “nameless dread and fear.” Or maybe it’s depression and anxiety brought about by something that CAN be identified but they just can’t dig out of the black hole in which they find themselves.
Maybe a person simply feels unloved or that they serve very little purpose in life. Perhaps they feel like they no longer make a difference in life for anyone. Or perhaps you are single and have been praying and waiting for God to provide you with a spouse, It’s very tempting to ask God does He really cares. And, of course, He does!
Perhaps there is an intense longing for one word of encouragement from someone – a word that would help pull back the feelings of inadequacy or rejection and open the curtains to a small sense of worth.
The situations in which we might find ourselves asking this question seem unlimited. So, there are countless others. You know which one might belong to you.
The Legacy of a Song
I want to take a glimpse of this topic through the words and legacy of an old and compelling hymn that has been published in many hymnals. “Does Jesus Care” is a song in which the lyrics song were written by Frank E. Graeff in the early 1900s.
Reverend Graeff was a minister in the Methodist church and served in Philadelphia. I remember the song all the way back to when I was a very young man.
Although the stories vary, it is well known that Rev. Graef had experienced quite a period of despondency, grief, and sadness prior to writing the words of a hymn that has touched so many lives. He dove into the pages of God’s Holy word and found in the book of 1st Peter some words of strength and comfort in Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Casting all you care upon him for he careth for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)
Imagine the grief, the tears, and his absolute cry for God to sustain him as he penned these classic words that have crossed the lips of many singers for over 100 years.
1- Does Jesus Care About My Pain?
1- Does Jesus Care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song? As the burdens press and the cares distress and the way grows weary and long.
Have you ever been in such emotional or physical pain that was too all-encompassing for you at that moment to even consider mirth (joy) or the possibility of a song in your heart? I have. So many of us have. We can embrace the thought of how those “burdens press and the cares distress.”
Through our own personal devastation, we understand that the days in which we face are weary – the long nights dreary.
However, regardless of the depth of his pain, sad heart, or intensely deep grief, the writer doesn’t attempt to draw strength within his human capabilities. The pain is far too deep.
No, the author reaches deeply into what his emotions may have tried to get him to deny. By faith, he exclaims a truth infused throughout God’s word. He sees the truth that he knew must be breathed in as if it were oxygen:
Oh yes! He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
Without embracing the fact that anyone at all cares, it can break one beyond what they can endure. However, this truth acknowledged by the author goes well beyond what mortal men could bring to him.
He goes deeper. He acknowledges the Creator God, the living Christ who had suffered pain beyond what we can imagine. By faith, Rev. Graeff acknowledges, clings to, and makes a firm proclamation that yes, the Savior cares!
As Frank Graeff made this proclamation you might surmise that his emotions did not leap into great sunlight at that very moment. However, that proclamation provides the bedrock that will sustain him through the long nights as well as the weary daylight hours.
2- Does Jesus Care? Fear, Depression, Anxiety
I’m not sure exactly what experience the author would have had with specific (or general) types of anxiety and depression. Although I can relate to the insightful lyrics that came with the author’s next stanza:
2- Does Jesus care when my way is dark With a nameless dread and fear? As the daylight fades into deep night shades, Does He care enough to be near?
Through personal experience or within his ministry to others, he had seen intense pain and suffering. He had seen those who experienced even a physical incapacity due to some nameless dread or fear. Over 100 years after these words were penned doctors understand more about the realities of a human body suffering from intricate issues of the brain and mental health.
Or, sometimes we may increasingly find our minds weary as we try to carry the burdens of unknown future events. We must become more firmly planted in an affirmative answer to “Does Jesus Care?”
The author begs for an answer to the question, “Does Jesus see and understand the pain of a depressed or anxious person, when there seems to be no physical reason for their distress?
Oh yes, we know that Jesus cares for the person who is dealing with major disease and organ failure. However, does he care when the struggle of the person is laced with fear, doubt, and loneliness that is incomprehensible, and the cause might be medically unknown?
Oh, but he unceasingly runs back to the dynamic and loving refrain that can only be backed up by the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His unconditional love:
Oh yes! He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
3- Does Jesus Care About the Pain of Failure
Then, at last, the author seemingly turns to a different type of pain that is found as one looks through the lens of personal failure:
3- Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed To resist some temptation strong; When for my deep grief there is no relief, Though my tears flow all the night long?
How bad is the guilt, the pain, the shame, the regret of “Lord, I failed again.?”
Perhaps the burden is so large because your failure or your perception of the failure exclaims that you are not only the most cherished people in your life – your family, your closest friends – but the very heart of God.
How do I know that my Savior cares when it seems I’ve failed Him over and over again? We can arrive back at the refrain of this great song if we realize, embrace, and accept the unconditional love of Jesus Christ!
But, we must see the cross of Christ. We must linger a while at the cross of Christ. We look at it. We look at Him. We are stunned by the cross, but we absorb the love and forgiveness radiating from the God of the cross.
We get a glimpse of the pain and agony of Jesus who, really as the only God-Man, could fully understand. He took our guilt, our sin, our doubts, and our undisciplined behavior upon Himself so we can be free from the guilt of our failures.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must tenaciously hold onto the fact that, for those who have repented and turned to the Savior, His forgiveness is complete. We bear no condemnation other than what the enemy tries to place upon us or what we attempt to place upon ourselves.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1 (NIV)
So, if I find no relief through my tears caused by regret or failure, I must know – Does Jesus Care?
Upon our many failures, we see the hymn writer pleading to find an answer about the love of Jesus. Once again he arrives at the same conclusion.
Oh yes! He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
4- Does Jesus Care When We Experience Tremendous Loss
His mind, heart, and pen continue to go more deeply into the pain with which he was so familiar. He had not only experienced a life ministry full of dealing with the pain of others, but records indicate that he had lost family members and experienced dark hours of his own soul. This leads him to write:
4- Does Jesus Care when I’ve said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me? And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks is it aught to Him, does He see?
Dr. Graeff understood at some level that the pain of saying “goodbye to the dearest on earth” was some of the most unbearable grief and pain that one might ever experience. He knew that when the heart is pained in this way a person can come to the breaking point.
To deal with human emotions felt so deeply would require a person to answer the question “Is it aught” to Jesus? (or in our terms…does it even matter to Jesus?) Is Jesus really seeing and understanding the grief enough to even provide any relief as I face life through my tears?
However, once again, it’s as if the Holy Spirit took the pen Himself and repeated the glorious refrain on which we must hold:
Oh yes! He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
In Time Of Need
Certainly, we need to believe that Jesus cares for us even when our lives are clicking along very well. We need to remember to bathe in His love and care for us when life seems to be treating us well.
However, all the more – we need to be able to come to Him with broken hearts, broken bodies, and broken minds. We need to come to Him with guilt we can’t seem to release. Come to Him with our doubts that shackle us to the dark side of the doorway keeping us from the freedom of His glorious light.
We need to accept the fact that Jesus wants to comfort us. We see times when his own disciples were filled with fear and anxiety. So, we are in good company!
Drawing Near
I want to share my favorite verse that pertains to our invitation as believers – as those who have received Him. It reveals our inconceivable access to Him.
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
Here is a list of other great verses about gaining peace and overcoming anxiety found at BibleVersesForYou.com. I believe this post will encourage you!
I submit this question. When do I have the greatest need to know that my Savior cares? It is in my “time of need.” That is what is promised by the God of the universe to His children.
He promises His grace. He promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. He doesn’t say that our deep grief or pain will be instantly healed. Grief normally doesn’t work like that. He doesn’t promise that a deeply saddened heart will instantaneously break into sunshine and laughter. Perhaps it’s not time and we will see the burdens press a bit longer.
However, if you are a child of the King, weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).” At what time, day, month, or year, the sorrow will break and rejoicing will come, we don’t know. However, a child of God can rest assured that it will. God cannot and will not lie to us.
Know that He loves you, and wants fellowship with you, and communion with you. God gave His son for you.
It is a conclusion that is a solid, firm, and quite literal reality spoken to us through thousands of years of God-breathed scripture.
It’s the answer that we should meditate upon each day in some fashion.
Does Jesus Care?
Oh yes! He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
Extras
As an additional resource, I noticed there are a very touching few moments in one of the Gaither Homecoming videos dedicated to the song, “Does Jesus Care” a few years ago. It’s very touching and compelling. If you would like to watch just click the image below.
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