I was told one from a mentor of mine… “As a pastor, the only people who will understand what you are going through are those who walk in your shoes.”

In other words, only pastors can understand what pastors are dealing with.

Only pastors know about the struggles in ministry. They know the hardship of pastoring a number of people and the weight that it carries. They know the pain of losing people, whether by death or by leaving. They know the burden of dealing with people’s sin, whether through counseling or through consequences. Your people do not understand the weight you carry as pastors, as shepherds “who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17).

Even though that’s a true statement. Here’s a better one. God knows what you’re struggling with.

Read Psalm 56.

David is struggling. People are against him. (Let’s be honest, we don’t always struggle because people are against us, but sometimes it sure does feel like it). He cries out to God for grace and mercy. He describes what his enemies are doing to him. And then…

“You (God) have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

– Psalm 56:8-11

David reminds himself of how God is for us. Of those who are faithful to God, he keeps even their tears. He doesn’t ignore them, but instead cares about their struggles and their sufferings. Pastor, God knows. God knows your pain. God knows your storms. God holds your tears. Don’t turn back from him.

In the midst of our struggles, we should do what David did; worship and give thanks (Ps 56:12-13).

Pastor, rest in the truth that God knows and that he is for us.