How often I have felt when bad things happen, that the event itself is not the worst thing, but other people's reaction to it. To be told in the midst of suffering to "just get over it" or "smile and it will turn out alright" has caused me great discouragement. When I am suffering, what I want is someone who will sit with me and try to understand. I want sympathy.

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:15,16

Our God is a sympathetic God. When He came to earth as the man Jesus, He was proving to us that He understands us and our situation, and that He cares. Watch "The Passion of the Christ" and you will see how Jesus suffered as a man. Jesus knew tiredness, thirst, hunger, pain, and sorrow. He was derided, spat on, ridiculed, and betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was held up as an object of shame - naked and bleeding. And He returned all this abuse with love. He had the power and the right to exact vengeance but He withheld it. I need Jesus to teach me how to do that. When someone hurts me, I want to get them back.

For Jesus to teach me to love even my enemies I need to trust Him. I need to trust that He understands my situation. If I thought that He was sitting up in heaven ready to pat me on the head and say "just turn the other cheek" I wouldn't bother to trust Him. I'd go my own way.

But I know Jesus doesn't do that. I know because the bible tells me, and I know from my own experience. I matter to God and what happens to me matters. It took me a while to get that but now I know His sympathy.

Wherever you are, cry out to God. I guarantee He gets it, even if nobody else does and He'll bring you through with love, not a set of instructions.