Entering into the situation

You cannot fully understand what other people are going through unless you have been there yourself. I have over the course of a ministry heard the experiences of many people who have been in hospital. These experiences become familiar through repetition, and you think you know what to expect if ever you are a patient yourself.

Yet, without actually being there, there is much you don't realise, like the way time stands still as you are waiting for things to happen and your turn never seems to come round. There are good reasons why there aren't too many clocks up on the wall in hospitals, because it would just make matters worse. And then there is the experience of uncertainty - the care plans which seem to change from one minute to the next as as one consultant or specialist arrives with a different view of how to treat your case. There are the many anxieties that can accumulate about the future. Without having been in the midst of it all, you possess at best a second-hand understanding.

A second-hand understanding is certainly better than none, especially if it comes with a listening ear. Many good counsellors are quite young, with very little experience of life, but they can listen well to older folk, pick up where they are anxious or troubled or angry, and sympathetically explore that with them. On the other hand, if it's a shared experience, you take that sympathy on to a new level. One blessing and comfort for the Christian is that God shared our experiences in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was born into our time. The clock ticked for Jesus as He experienced the pain and anguish of waiting for His dreadful end on the cross. He knew and experienced uncertainty: He became totally helpless, without any control over events, as the authorities pushed Him around. If only people could see how God entered our time and shared our experiences in Jesus Christ, it would bring real comfort. After all, He created the time in which we live, and that time is just a backdrop to an eternity which He also created, where He will rule unchallenged and no evil thing will ever come to pass.