“In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties…”
—John 16 (the message)
Jesus doesn’t sugar coat anything in the verse above, does He?
No, He doesn’t. And I find it interesting when Jesus uses the verse above in John 16.
If you read all of John 16 you find Christ telling His disciples about His soon departure to Heaven….and how He will send the Holy Spirit to help the disciples make sense of all the things they didn’t understand. Christ then told them that when this happened He would no longer speak to them in figures of speech, but talk to them plainly about God because they will finally be able to handle the truth.
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“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.”
—John 16 (the message)
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This revelation from Christ excited His disciples…You can read in verses 29 and 30 of John 16 how they expressed their joy about Christ finally speaking plainly to them…I can only imagine their enthusiasm at finally hearing that all the answers given to them concerning the questions they had about Christ would finally be answered. This had to be a seriously incredible moment for these men.
But then at the very end of John 16, after all this good news, Christ brings reality back into the disciple’s lives when He says, “In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties.”
Some of us may be thinking, man, Jesus is kind of a buzz kill here.
But the truth is that Jesus knew what troubles and difficulties laid ahead for the disciples…He had too! He saw it and knew that their eagerness for the Holy Spirit’s arrival would be challenged and tried daily. Their faith would be put to the test in their everyday lives in so many different ways that eventually they would let the humanity inside them darken their spirits, and rob their joy. They might even loose hope at times and wonder when life was going to get better.
Jesus knew that even with the Holy Spirit’s influence providing them so many answers…there would still be doubt…fear…lack of understanding…and the feeling of loss of purpose.
Sound familiar?
Of course it does…that’s because we also face these troubles and difficulties in our everyday lives.
We worry about the future…we obsess about the “right” things to do…we struggle in relationships…we’re not finding fulfillment in our careers…someone close to us passes away…we have to file for bankruptcy…we get lost in our own insecurities…we have trouble trusting people…we have trouble trusting God…we at times can live fearful and unsure…passionless and doubting. Even those that darken the door of a church building every week are susceptible to the reality that, “In this godless world you will CONTINUE to experience difficulties.”
We are all susceptible…but we are not alone. Because God is our conqueror! No matter what the trial or struggle…no matter how bad we may screw up…we are not alone. God promises us that He has CONQUERED the world…and my brothers and sisters, better days are always just a sunset away.
While Christ expresses the reality of the trials we face in this life at the end of John 16, He also offers these words that should warm all of our hearts and give us hope.
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“Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
—John 16 (the message)
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Hold fast and hold on, brothers and sisters…because we are not abandoned…and each of our stories are just getting started….
