5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Zechariah and Elizabeth had a heartache. They were ”childless”, and lived in a culture that saw such a situation as meaning you were out of favour with God. That very much was not the case (see verse 6), but no doubt they felt the stigma…

…and the pain. Both biology and age were against them. Even as Zechariah served God, I imagine he was bleeding internally

Many of God’s choicest servants have ‘walked with a limp’, if I may put it that way, and yet have found His strength made perfect in their weakness.

God said this about His Son, the Messiah, through Isaiah the prophet:

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. (53:3).

We may not understand why we have to go through griefs and losses and reversals, and so on, but in it all Jesus is ”familiar” with our pain. In a short piece I read recently, the writer reminded his readers that when Jesus came back from the dead, it was as a glorified wounded human-being. The risen Jesus still bears the marks of suffering in His body.

He knows, and He cares, and He understands as no other can.