“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”
Jesus sat the table, looking at a dozen men and a handful of others. There was a foreboding sense in the room that something profound was about to be lost. Uncertainty and confusion had increasingly been pressing upon them as days and weeks had passed by. And now they sensed that some horrible transition was somehow just around the corner. Fear began seeping into their perception of everything.
And Jesus, reading all of this in the faces before him, speaks to them. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled”. Don’t let your hearts fall into the bottomless hole of fear. Don’t live in the darkness of that storm, in the silent alienation of that merciless master. Don’t let your hearts be troubled. “Trust in God. Trust also in Me.” Jesus said, the Father is with you. I am with you. We are present in this storm. We are taking this journey with you. You don’t need to be afraid.
Later in the same conversation Jesus meets them here again, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Turn your hearts to Me; don’t let your hearts wrap themselves around all the trouble surrounding you. Don’t be afraid. I have a gift for you. It is My peace, and it passes all understanding.
After communicating some of His most precious truths to that tiny band of followers, Jesus ended with these words, “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.” Certainly there will be trouble in this world. There has been and will be until He returns. But that is not the measure of our moments. “Trust in Me.” I give you My peace. I have overcome the world.
Can your heart follow the leading, the instruction of our Lord? Many, many voices will demand that you fear this or fear that. We are in a time of many voices claiming a great need for fear. Will you let your heart be reactive? Or can you proactively move to the call and promise of Him who is over all things?
As was true 2000 years ago, Jesus sits with you. He reads the uncertainty, the confusion, the fear of so much unknown. And He says to you, Don’t let your hearts be troubled. “Trust in God. Trust in Me.” “I will never leave you of forsake you.” “I have overcome this world.”
This next week let’s honor Him and be lights for Him. We are a people who have a hope and a King that is bigger than all creation! He is preparing for us a place where we will live as overcomers forever. In this moment we can have peace, we can have strength, and we can remind others that a Good God has spoken to us and there is no need for our hearts to be troubled.
(John 14:1, 14:27, 16:33)