PACK UP YOUR SORROWS

PACK UP YOUR SORROWS

READ:
Isaiah 53:1-6

Surely He has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows.
-Isaiah 53:4

During the turbulent years of the 1960s, popular music in America was a strange mixture of protest and patriotism.  Some songs lashed out against war, greed, and injustice in society, while others affirmed duty to country and traditional values.  But "Pack Up Your Sorrows," written by Richard Farina and Pauline Baez Marden, seemed to fit all of the categories with its focus on the quest for personal peace.  The refrain said the following:

Well, if somehow you could pack up your sorrows, / And give them all to me / You would lose them, I know how to use them, / Give them all to me.

Perhaps everyone hoped that someone really could bring them peace. 

The good news is that there is Someone who can!  Isaiah 53 is a prophetic picture of Israel's promised Messiah.  Christians see its fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows....He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (vv. 4-5).

Jesus took our sins and sorrows on Himself so that we could be forgiven and have peace with God.  Will you give Him your sorrows today? - David McCasland

Never a burden that He does not carry;
Never a sorrow that He does not share;
Whether the days may be sunny or dreary,
Jesus is always there. - Lillenas
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No sorrow is too heavy for our Savior to bear.

INSIGHT
There are four Servant Songs in Isaiah.  Chapters 52:13-53:12 are the clearest description in the Old Testament of the sufferings of Christ.  Isaiah 53 is a peak in the Old Testament as it takes us tot the cross of Jesus.  Isaiah 53 describes the rejection of Christ (vv.1-3), His vicarious suffering (vv. 4-6), His sacrificial death and burial (vv.7-9), and His reconciling atonement and resurrection (vv.10-12), Isaiah had proclaimed God's blessings to a rebellious and sinful nation  (chs. 40-55).  Chapter 53 tells us how this is made possible by the suffering, sacrificial, substitutionary death of the Messiah (vv.4-6).

Have a blessed day.
God Our Creator's Love Always
Unity & Peace