Desolation in death

Psalm 69:19-21 NKJV

You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonour; My adversaries are all before You. [20] Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. [21] They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

To have an ignominious death is the ultimate humiliation - to die with no one to care or sympathise.

This happened with Henry Nowak. Falsely accused by liars, disgracefully treated by police, failed by the medics - he succumbed to his stab wounds, suffocating on his own blood.

His father stated: "Henry did not die with dignity. He did not die with the care he deserved. He lost consciousness before anyone believed him."

He wasn't the first to die in such a devastating way and he won't be the last either.

But where does anyone turn for comfort in such tragedy?

There is One who has endured humiliation and abandonment beyond belief.

This Psalm's prophetic description of Jesus' Passion on the Cross shows what He suffered and His feelings even as He died.

He was falsely accused, He was abandoned, He was betrayed, He was tortured.

He was even given a "drink" on a sponge used to clean hindquarters after defacating!

So, He knows! Now anyone can turn to a Living, Loving God - to Jesus who has been there and understands.

Hebrews 2:9 NKJV

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

There is a sense in that, on the Cross, Jesus tasted everyone's death, so that He ALONE can stand alongside each broken person and share in a way no one else can.

Let's pray for all grieving, broken hearts whose emotional wounds are so deep, that only God's intervention can sooth.

Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.