Take Heart!

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Tonight my heart is heavy. Over the past week, two families in our small community have experienced heart-breaking, life-altering circumstances--one from a sudden diagnosis, another from a horrible accident.

I’ve been reminded this week that everything in your entire life can change in the blink of an eye. Those tragedies that you read about or hear mentioned in the prayer requests of others--one day, that could be me. It could be my family whose lives are forever changed. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. We cannot know what tomorrow holds. It’s possible that tomorrow will bring heartache like we’ve never known before. All the plans and dreams for the future could be completely altered in a blink.

These are things we all know, but this week, for me, the knowing feels different -- it’s a much deeper kind of understanding than I had before.

I’m sure there are many who hear of these situations and question God. Why them, God? Why this? Why now? I feel those questions, too. And I have no answers for them.

Over the last couple of weeks in our Sunday School class, we have been studying the Exodus. One of the ideas we discussed was this misconception we seem to have that if we follow Jesus and obey God and do our best to live for Him then our life will be easy and problem-free. To the best of my knowledge (which is, granted, not exhaustive by any means!), there is no promise in scripture that followers of Christ will get a charmed life free from all problems and heart-ache. In fact, Jesus pretty much said the exact opposite in John 16:33 when He said, “In this world you will have trouble.”

None of us know when the trouble will come. None of us know what that trouble will look like. But I don’t think Jesus was talking about things like getting a stain on our favorite sweater or a child who doesn’t make the cut for the varsity team or not having enough money to go on vacation or even not getting a promotion we had hoped for. In this chapter, Jesus was trying to prepare His disciples for His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, as well as the persecution they would experience after His death and resurrection. He warned them that they would be scattered, put out of the synagogue, and even killed. These were life-altering types of troubles.

And still today, people experience many, many troubles that seem unbearable--even people who love God and do their best to honor and serve Him. I don’t know why some people experience such pain and heartache, while others do not. Some deal with abrupt life changes; others deal with painful, slow, gradual changes; and still others deal with problems that few in their lives even realize are there. We all have trouble in this broken world, and if we haven’t yet, chances are good that we will at some point in our lifetime.

But I am comforted by what Jesus said to His disciples in John 16:

22 “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

And the full verse I mentioned earlier, also found in John 16:

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

When we have a relationship with Jesus, we can have this joy and peace that the world does not have and cannot understand - even in the midst of our troubles. We have a hope that is difficult to describe to those who don’t have it - a hope for a day when all will be set right, a hope for an eternity with Jesus in a perfect world no longer tainted and broken by sin.

Until then, we will deal with troubles in our lives. And hopefully, we will find ways to help each other through those difficult days. I pray that each of you reading this tonight has the kind of relationship with Jesus that gives you peace, hope, and joy, and that if you don’t, you will learn more about that from someone who does.

God, it’s hard to see those dear to us suffering. We pray for your healing - physical, emotional, and spiritual. Make Yourself known to them. Help those who are hurting to see You and feel Your presence. Take away their fear, and give them Your peace. Thank You for the hope we have in You. Help us to make the most of each and every day You give us, to stop taking for granted things that are not guaranteed, to keep things in proper perspective, and to honor You with all we have and do. Guide us as we try to help one another through the difficult days.