The Worst Day Ever

Things will get much better for God's children.

John 16:16-19  “In a little while you won’t see Me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see Me again.” 17 Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does He mean when He says, ‘In a little while you won’t see Me, but then you will see Me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? 18 And what does He mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

19 Jesus realized they wanted to ask Him about it, so He said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see Me, but a little while after that you will see Me again.

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Instead of celebration, this Passover was awkward and confusing, the past week in Jerusalem has been chaotic. Right after the crowds sang his praises Jesus predicted that some of them would kill him, the confusion gets worse as he cleans out the temple and pronounces woes upon the religious leaders.

Things were just as strange during the Passover meal as their leader starts washing their feet, Judas suddenly leaves the room and never returns and then there was the harsh rebuke from Jesus that was aimed at Peter.

They didn't have any idea why things were so peculiar, to them this was just another routine Passover like any other, the past few days were just the beginning. Soon they will see their best friend be brutally beaten and die from incredibly brutal agony.

How would it feel to see your son treated so viciously to the point of death? How did Peter feel when he realized that he did the very thing that he could not conceive was even possible?

We like to jump past this part of Jesus story and get to Sunday as fast as we can but if we do that then we lose the part of Jesus that helps us when we go through dark days. Grief, pain and hopelessness will come our way and we can take comfort that our creator knows exactly how we feel.

John 16:20-22 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to Me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.

21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

In the middle of their hopelessness there is no way that they could understand that their worst days are nothing compared to the joy that is on the way. They will soon realize that the very event that brought them all of this sorrow is the source of their eternal hope.

I must remember that it is difficult to see God working when we are standing in the dark but that is where his greatest work is accomplished. Don't give up... Sunday is coming!

When God Is Inattentive

Your difficulties are not proof that God doesn't like you.

Matthew 11:2-6, 11 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus,  3  "Are You the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"

4  Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen--  5  the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.  6  And tell him, 'God blesses those who do not turn away because of Me. '"

11 “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist

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John the Baptist has questions, things are not going very well for him as he sits in prison, the same man that gave such a definite, bold proclamation about Jesus identity is now having doubts. John told us about Jesus and he told us about the awesome things that Jesus was going to do but a lot of those things have not happened yet and now John is struggling. (Matthew 3:10-12, John 1:19-35)

John's struggles were just like any of us would have. He probably couldn't understand why his own cousin who is so powerful didn't bust him out of jail. He probably wondered my the Messiah wasn't exerting political power or why the predictions of judgement from Matthew 3 were not coming true.

John the Baptist was a great man that the people loved, Jesus loved him and said that he was a great man but he was in jail because Herod and his wife Herodias, didn't like him. Herodias was the daughter-in-law of Herod the Great, twice: once by marriage to his son, Herod II, and again by marriage to another son, Herod Antipas. John was in jail because he stood up for the truth and spoke out against this marriage.

Jesus response wasn't full of hope for John, he told the messengers to go and tell John what they have seen and what they have heard, he didn't say hang in there and I will get you out soon. John wasn't feeling the love while he sat there in prison while his cousin Jesus was helping strangers and seemingly was ignoring him. Jesus last words to the messengers that were returning to John may sound really peculiar, he gives them this message to tell John:

"And tell him, 'God blesses those who do not turn away because of Me. '"

That doesn't sound like words of encouragement to bless a man that has his doubts. Jesus seems to be telling John that he knows about John's circumstances but he is choosing not to change them. Jesus seems to be saying that God will allow things to come into our lives that will be difficult and they could cause us to stumble but we should keep the faith.

Sometimes it looks like God isn't working in our lives, our circumstances begin to impact our confidence in God, we doubt that he loves us or if he cares about us. Our pain begins to distort reality and we think that God isn't paying attention.

Life will be hard.

John 16:33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

It is important to remember that your circumstances do not coincide with how God feels about you, the proof of that is at the cross, our knowledge of God's infinite love needs to be recalled when the doubts come our way. We went out of his way to prove his love to you and to provide a way for you to spent eternity with him.

We need to be encouraged to remember when God did show himself to be real, we need to remember what we have "heard and seen" about Jesus in the past. We need help to see past our prison walls and remember the goodness of God, the fellowship of the family of God is supposed to help you out, don't neglect this powerful resource.

This broken sinful world will have it's share of difficulties but we know the one that has overcome the world so that we can have peace to keep on going without turning away from the faith.

Inspired by an Andy Stanley Podcast: When God, Part 1 - When God Is Inattentive

Where Do Your Blessings Come From

Difficult times can be the source of blessing.

Blessings - Laura Story 

We usually pray for the difficult times to go away, none of us like for anything to be tough, but what if those difficulties are the very thing that God is using to send blessings your way?

Don't feel bad if you have prayed for those difficulties to get lost, your in good company, even Jesus prayed for a better way. He didn't want the pain of the beatings and the cross and he prayed in so much agony over the hard times that he would endure, "let it pass" he said to God the Father.

Thankfully God didn't take Jesus away from the suffering, it is difficult to see a greater good coming out of the pain when we are in the midst of it, but just like it did in Jesus case to a lesser degree there is also good coming from the bad in our lives as well.  

We cry out to God to "let it pass" but so often he doesn't, isn't he interested in my well being? Yes he is, but sometimes the best for us is to go through the suffering and keep our eyes on God and what he wants us to learn in the difficult times.