Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 1, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Known Overwhelming Sorrow’”

Guthrie, Nancy. Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2009.

Chapter 1, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Known Overwhelming Sorrow’” pp. 1-10

Matthew 26:38

Jesus is the one who calls us to himself when we are dead. He gives us the faith to trust him. Despite our wandering and confusion, as we commit our lives to Jesus he will change us. Guthrie views this as something which “broke through my religious activity and accumulated Bible knowledge” (p. 2). She needed something, in other words, that was not present in Jesus revealed in Scripture. She needed a special emotive experience. This experience, she says (p. 4), told her Jesus’ heart is broken by sorrow, just as hers was.

Guthrie goes on to describe the sorrow Jesus felt in his last night in the garden (Matthew 26). Because Jesus dealt with these sorrows, he understands our sorrows. This, in our time of sorrow, draws us to Jesus. “It’s in our suffering that we can truly begin to identify with his” (p. 6).

Jesus, who was lonely, sorrowful, and betrayed, can understand what we go through. Knowing that, Jesus is “calling you to a deeper, more real relationship with him than you’ve ever had before” (p. 8).

Guthrie wraps up the chapter with an adaptation of Jesus’ words addressed to the reader, explaining that he will be with us.