John 13:21 – After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in His spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
THEME OF THE DAY: HE KNOWS TROUBLED TIMES TOO. We live in troubled times. Only a human being acting like an ostrich with a head buried in the sand would deny such conditions exist across the land. We also know troubled times in our churches as we yearn for God to send revival and awaken us to eternal realities. No one would question the need for another Great Awakening or even Reformation. There are troubled times in our homes too. Families are stressed, busy, facing financial challenges, uncertainties, and children disillusioned, even abandoning the once proclaimed faith. And we know troubled times in our own individual walks with the Lord. We should not be surprised. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” ( 2 Timothy 3:1-4). But though we live in troubled times and experience troubling seasons in our lives, let’s take heart. The Lord Jesus walked this path too. He lived upon the earth and is able to identify with us in our troubles.
First, Jesus knows the trouble of heart when people let us down. In today’s scriptures, He foretells the betrayal of Judas. However, don’t forget that soon all the disciples would deny Him. Not with the eternal consequences to Judas, but certainly leaving the Savior troubled. His closest friends when He needed them the most would walk away. The fear of man, weakness of the flesh, and lack of understanding of the power of sin caused His disciples to abandon Him. This pain is real. All of us known the trouble of spirit which occurs when people let us down. Even brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a great sorrow to the soul to trust people, rely upon people, and find them turn away or fail to keep their word. And before we focus entirely on the pain of this experience caused to us, let’s be humbled to realize we, too, have failed others in keeping our word and commitments causing them pain. However, we have a Savior who will not disappoint us. He will not let us down. He will never leave or forsake us. Lean on His unchanging love and character when the reality of relational failure occurs among people.
Next, our Jesus knows the trouble of heart associated with spiritual warfare. Go back to the Garden of Gethsemane. As the Lord enters the most intense period of conflict with the devil He ever had, He said to His disciples, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” ( Matthew 26:38). If we are serious about knowing the Lord, serious about holiness, and serious about reaching our worlds with the Gospel, we are going to experience spiritual warfare that drains us. It will be intense, relentless, and leave us in a similar condition as Jesus. That is the nature of true spiritual warfare. It seeks to drain one of spiritual resources and primarily, keeping us from prayer from which we gain spiritual resources. What was Jesus about to do in the Garden? Seek communion with His Father. Some of the most anguishing times of soul will be in prayer. Satan always attacks prayer; the type of prayer Jesus was seeking – fellowship with God. It may seem a paradox, but in prayer will be seasons of intense trouble of soul as well as heightened joy. We must fight our foes to “break through” to God and know His glorious and joyful presence. Don’t be discouraged. Jesus knew this experience too and will help us through it.
As we encounter hard times, troubling times, we may never say, ‘No one knows what I am going through.’ Why? Because there is One who does – our Lord Jesus and He will carry us through all troubled times in His loving arms of grace, mercy, and power.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for being not only a God in control but a personal God who cares.”
QUOTE: “As we encounter hard times, we can never say, ‘No one knows what I am going through’. Jesus does”