Trust in Jesus (John 14:1)

Philip Yancey begins a chapter in his book, “Disappointment with God”, by quoting the opening statement of another author’s book. Yancey writes, “The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck, opens with a blunt three-word sentence: ‘Life is difficult’”.  I have not yet read The Road Less Traveled, but I can agree with Peck’s statement completely.  Life is difficult.  Life is often more than difficult.  In fact, many would agree that the statement “Life is difficult” is an incredible understatement when we look a the troubles and tragedies many are facing.  Life can be so difficult that it leads many to question God’s love and power.  We ask, “Where is God?  “Why is God allowing this to happening to me?”  “Doesn’t he care?” “Why doesn’t he do something?”. 

           
These questions are primarily about the heart.  In times of life tragedy our hearts are troubled by the pain we experience as life’s “difficulties” try to convince us that God is absent or sitting on his hands while we suffer.  The truth is, God has done something, he is not absent, and he is not sitting on his hands. God is always at work on our behalf even when we cannot see him through the fog of pain and difficulty.  God is concerned about our troubled hearts.  
           
While Jesus never directly addressed the exact questions that many of us may ask when we are facing incredible difficulty, he did give us what we need to carry us through the hard seasons of life.  At a point in time when his friends, the disciples, were about face the most heart wrenching tragedy they could never imagine, Jesus said to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; Trust also in me” (John 14:1).  In these words from Jesus, as stark and simple as Peck’s, I believe we have the answers to the questions we ask when we are hurting and facing tragedy.  Whatever difficulty, crisis, circumstance, or tragedy, you are facing, Jesus is more. Trust in Him. - Kap Otten