When Things are Hard
What does Jesus say about our troubling circumstances?
Verse of the Day
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
Today’s Devotional
Is your heart ever troubled? Mine is. More than I would like to admit. Hence the continuous need to learn about trusting God and putting it into practice in my life.
Imagine that you’ve been working on this one project that is REALLY important and life changing. You’ve been pouring your time and efforts into this project for three years. And the leader of the project gives you some devastating news. That’s exactly the setting for this verse. It’s the Last Supper. Jesus has just told the disciples that one of them is a traitor, they would all deny Him, and He is leaving.
Wait, what? How could they not be troubled?
I read something that said that all Christians should be really grateful for the troubled hearts of the disciples in this setting. Because of their distress (that Jesus could see), He says these beautiful words. Jesus does not say that the situation isn’t troubling, because it is. He doesn’t dismiss their concerns. Jesus knows that we will have difficult situations in our lives. But Jesus is making a radical promise that if we will look at our disturbing circumstances and choose to trust, then we can have a peaceful heart in the midst of our circumstances.
I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that this probably takes a lot of practice. The world and its problems tend to scream really loud for our attention and worry. Trusting God tends to happen for me when I choose to be still and quiet and not listen to the noise. Noise that is generally coming from inside my own head.
Here’s the thing about trusting God….. He does not tend to show up early. He tends to show up in His timing, which for us usually takes too long. In hindsight, we can see that the timing was exactly right. But in the moment…waiting and trusting is hard.
Going back to the disciples, their ideas for how this ministry should proceed were radically different than what God had in mind. But now, can you see the beauty in that? God’s plan is better. Even when it feels disastrous. And in those moments when the disaster strikes, am I building the kind of faith today that will allow me to fall on my knees to worship in the middle of hardship? That’s the kind of trust Jesus us asking for here. Yes, this looks troubling. But do you trust Me? This points me back to practicing. Am I consistently practicing today the things that will help me when my external circumstances look really bleak?
Notice also that Jesus points us back to our belief. When things are difficult, are we choosing to focus on what we really believe, or are we focusing on the problems at hand? In my experience, my current problems and my beliefs in God are always telling me different things. Jesus is reminding me that I have a choice to focus on my foundational belief in Him, which will take the power out of my heart feeling troubled. So today, am I building my foundational beliefs in Him? Am I declaring the truth about God’s faithfulness? Am I reminding myself of how He has worked in my life in the past? Am I saying out loud, “Jesus, I trust you. Help me to trust you more”?
Jesus, we do trust you. And we asl for your help today to trust you more.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How is your heart troubled today?
What noise are you hearing that you need to tune out?
What do you really believe?
How can you focus on what you believe instead of your troubling circumstances today?
How does focusing on your belief in God affect your ability to trust?
How can you build your foundational beliefs in God today?
What do you need to declare to yourself today?