“You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV

The Lord encourages the afflicted.

The word afflicted means to be “grievously affected or troubled.”

A lot of times we feel afflicted because of a wrongdoing done to us or even done to someone else—and it’s not just pain, but rather an emotional wound.

When we look at Jesus’ story, we read that he was afflicted. The prophesy referring to Jesus in Isaiah 53 reads this:

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Son of God and God Himself are both familiar with being afflicted and emotionally wounded. Jesus had friends leave him—he had friends hurt him.

But we read that he goes to the Lord for comfort in his times of trouble (Luke 5:16)

The God of comfort is not scared of being confronted by pain.

Your wounds do not scare him and neither do your troubles or afflictions.

I often run to my friends when I’m hurting—and while this isn’t bad—we need people!—I’ve also noticed that God is the very last person I go to. And I only ever seem to go to him when I need something. Not as in ‘I need a friend to talk to,’ but as in ‘I need a way out of this situation because I’m uncomfortable.’

But the discomfort will lead to blessings in the end. When God brings heaven and earth together, it will prove to be more plentiful and fruitful than we could have imagined.

Don’t hesitate to go to God with your afflictions—he’s ready to listen and comfort you.

And if you’re not in pain? Then still go to God! He’s your best friend and Teacher and Father, he’s ready to shower some love on you.

Thanks for reading, I hope this was encouraging!

~Willow