February 28, 2013
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?
Never a sorrow that He does not share;
Jesus is always there.
—Bertha Lillenas. ©1934 Homer A. Rodeheaver.
Read: Isaiah 53:1-6
