To Encourage You

John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

It’s always good to think about the context in which the words of the Bible are written.  An example is the words above as Jesus spoke to His disciples.  He had just spoken to them about the fact that one of them would soon betray Him.  He had just told Peter that he would deny Him three times.  He was facing the cross and all the seeming chaos that would unfold in just a few hours. He had told them that He would soon die.  Then, right after He spoke the words above, He told them that He was going to leave them.  They were troubled, to say the least.  But in the face of the trouble and the fact that they would soon desert Him in the midst of it, He doesn’t condemn them. In spite of all that He was to soon face, Jesus speaks words of comfort to His disciples. And what was the remedy for their troubled hearts?  It was to simply believe in God and believe also in Him. 

Yet, very soon after these words were spoken, all hell broke loose.  Jesus pleaded with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane about what He would soon face.  Then He was arrested, tried, scourged, and crucified. He was tortured, mocked, and spit upon.  So, in the face of all this, “Believe in God; believe also in me?”  Peter surely didn’t.  He denied He ever knew Jesus.  Most of the others fled in fear.  “Believe in God” Who is sovereign over all? Where was He at this time? “Believe also in me,” while Jesus appeared totally and completely helpless and while He hung dead upon a cross?  Yes, even in all this, “Believe in God; believe also in me!”  And as we all know from what happened three days later, God was in control.  Jesus was victorious! 

What a lesson for us as we think about this.  Is our heart troubled about anything?  Is there something in our future that seems completely out of control? Are we in the midst of something that appears chaotic, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever?  What about coronavirus?  What about the stock market? What about cancer? And what about . . .? Jesus’ words to us just like His words to His disciples in John 14 are “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.” 

No matter how things look, if we are believers in Christ, keep on believing in Him, no matter what.  He’s in control, He will work all things together for our good, and He is completely and utterly trustworthy, even when it appears like anything but.  Believe no matter how it looks – not believe in yourself, which we hear so often.  No, truth be known, we are in control of very little. We lack in many ways. We are not the answer. But He is. 

Believe in God; believe also in Christ, for if the cross and all that went with it couldn’t prove Him wrong and untrustworthy, neither will anything else.  Nothing, no absolutely nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:31-39).  It is because of that fact, demonstrated for us at the cross, that we can trust the one who has said, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”  And those who will do that will see that it was all perfectly true in the end.