In all our distress he too is distressed (Isa 63:9).

Jesus suffered the full measure of God's wrath concerning my sin. "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him" (Isa 53:5 NIV).

Jesus longs to heal me completely, but may choose not to. Our physical, mental and emotional healing are in the hands of our Sovereign God. He does not owe us perfect health. We should pray for healing. With his wounds we are healed [literally "there is healing for us in his wounds"] (Isa 53:5 ESV). But he may choose to give us grace to endure so we can empathise with others.

Jesus was not crushed by the devil, but by his Father, so I must never doubt God's love for me. "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all …  It was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer" (Isa 53:6, 10 NIV).

Jesus asked: "Why is this happening to me?" "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day but you do not answer" (Ps 22:1-2 NIV). (Imagine how difficult it must have been for the Father to turn his back on his Son! It was our sin that brought this about.

Jesus was forsaken by his Father so that I would never have to be left alone. "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Mk 15:34 NLT) "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh [our fallen, ego-centric human nature], God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned [and judged] sin in sinful man; being made sin for us (Rm 8:3 NIV). God made him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Cor 5:21).

"'Papa?' Jesus cried, frantically searching the sky. 'Papa? Where are you? Don't leave me!' And for the first time – and the last – when he spoke, nothing happened; just a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer. He had turned away from his Boy" (Sally Lloyd-Jones).

Jesus, it seems, experienced the actual emotional, psychological and physical pain of our sins, infirmities, sorrows and diseases. "When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfil what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 'He himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases [on the cross]'" (Mt 8:16-17 NASB). "It was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!" (Isa 53:4 NLT)

The last words of Jesus had been his daily prayer. "Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this, he breathed his last" (Lk 23:46 ESV). Jesus had lived in unbroken fellowship with his Father and death would not separate them. This is how it should be in my own life. The one who wants to die well needs to live well.