"I'm in a tight spot." It's a familiar phrase, and a familiar plight. Tightness. It denotes confinement and tension. Walls of adversity closing in. Problems pressing. Little space to breathe. Hemmed in. No freedom to run.

A prison cell is a tight spot. Serving in war can be a tight spot. The loss of income, a friend who betrays us, crisis in relationships or business—these are tight spots. Disease and incapacity is a tight spot. Family dysfunction and abuse is a tight spot. The loss of a loved one is a tight spot. Addiction is a tight spot. Sin is a tight spot.

Are you in a tight spot right now? If so, there's a message from God for you.

The message is startling in its context. Here it is: "In all their distress he too was distressed." Isaiah 63:9. You've probably read this before, but now, pause to receive its full blessing.

The Hebrew word used here for "distress" means "tightness," or "tight place". "In all their tight spots, God experienced the tightness." Think about this! God enters into your distress; your anguish sweeps over him personally. Your pain is his pain—no matter whether it's a sorrow you have brought about through your own actions, or a sorrow that has simply come upon you. You suffer; the God who loves you suffers with you.

Isaiah 63 pictures God robed in splendour, striding among his people. Because of sin, the people are in a tight place. In fact, they are terribly bloodied. As God walks among them to dispense justice and mercy, their blood gets all over him. His splendour becomes tarnished. Startling words: "Their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing." Verse 3.

My friends, we have a God who walks among us in our worst times, and gets covered with the blood of our distress. The pain of our world is not confined to our world. It throbs in Heaven itself.

If this were the entire picture, we would be comforted but we might still be without hope. We need to know, Will the pain end? Will my tightness become freedom? Will my anguish give way to joy?

The answer is provided in a question and answer in Isaiah 63:1. "Who is this, robed in splendour, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? 'It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.'"

This God who suffers with us and gets himself covered with the blood of our distress has a dual role. He is not only our Comforter—he is our Rescuer. He is mighty to save, releasing us from our tight spots and freeing us to leap with joy in open spaces.

Now look at all of verse 9. "In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old."

This is Heaven's "Lift and Carry" mission, and it was accomplished in God's Son. Jesus lived among us, going through our trials and giving us profound encouragement. He was tested and wounded. He suffered and entered into death. But he rose again and forged for us a path to freedom.

Jesus guaranteed release from our tight spots—more frequently than we deserve in this life, and absolutely when he makes all things new. To re-phrase Isaiah 63:9: "In love and mercy Christ has redeemed us; he lifts us up and carries us all the days of our lives."

Where does prayer come into the picture? Everywhere! Prayer is crucial in our tight spots. Every calamity is a call to prayer. When adversity closes in, prayer is the way we activate faith. It is the way we say, "Lord, include me in your Lift and Carry mission."

Some trials are so severe that we feel we cannot even pray. That's all right—when you cannot rise up in God, you may simply sink into him. Prayer at such times may be more a gasp of the soul than a grouping of words. With a gasp of the soul, God lifts you up and carries you, as a parent lifts up a child who has fallen to the ground. In your distress, God too is distressed. He will enter your grief and guide you patiently through your painful passage, one day at a time.

This is the "cup of suffering" that in Christ becomes at the same time, amazingly, a "cup of thanksgiving." See 1 Corinthians 10:16. The process is not logical, nor is it natural. It calls for faith, not analysis. It's supernatural—a miracle—and it transforms our tight spots.