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Nosocomephobia

It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that the fear of hospitals is a fairly common phobia. It's called nosocomephobia, and many people suffer from it—some to an extent that just the thought of having to go to a hospital triggers an elevated heart rate, excessive sweating, and anxiety to the point of a full-blown panic attack. 

A hospital forces us to confront pain, blood, and disease—ours or someone else's. And, of course, death. This is, after all, a place of suffering.  

Psalm 22 describes an unprecedented account of suffering. It is an anguished cry to God from a man in the process of being executed and it begins, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?" Those words were penned by Israel's greatest king, David. But they were not the expression of David's own suffering—though he suffered much both physically and emotionally. David's words depict the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross one thousand years before He was crucified.

Jesus became a worm—the lowliest of all living things—despised and ridiculed by the people. His hands and feet were pierced. He was poured out like water. All His bones were out of joint. His strength was dried up like sun-baked clay. His tongue stuck to the roof of His mouth. He was left for dead in the dust.

Those are just some of the words used to describe the torture of a righteous man. A man who came to die. Jesus' crucifixion would make Him the final Passover Lamb—the last sacrifice—a trial He embraced because He wanted the will of the Father to be done.

We’ve all been through suffering, pain, and distress. Like Jesus, we’ve felt deserted by God and despised by men. But later in this psalm David foretold the hope that resulted from Jesus' suffering—salvation for mankind. The cost of salvation was staggering. And in the New Testament, Peter further explained, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

All that Jesus suffered was for you. Because of that, you can confidently take your pain to Him, not only knowing that He identifies with you in it, but also that He has redeemed it. Because of that, it’s clear that the scarlet thread is more than a symbol. It’s your lifeline.