A Word in Season: The Untroubled Heart (John 14:1)

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The Lord Jesus Christ has just celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples, and Judas has gone out into the night.

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The Lord Jesus Christ has just told his disciples that he's not going to be with them for much longer, that though they seek for him, they'll not be able to find him.

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The Lord Jesus Christ has just said that where he is going, they cannot follow him.

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The Lord Jesus Christ has just said that Peter, in common with the desertion of the others, is going to deny him three times.

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Now if you were one of those disciples under those circumstances, what might you be feeling?

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What would you be thinking? What would show upon your face? What would be evident in your behaviour?

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Perhaps it's the glances at one another, the troubled looks at each other. Perhaps it's the scratching of the head and the confusion and distress on the face.

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But our Lord, who knows all things, who knows what takes place in the depths of our heart, as well as the things that are obvious on our faces, understands that these men are now deeply troubled.

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They're deeply distressed. And he says to them, in John's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 1,

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Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

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What wonderful words of peace and joy. Let not your heart be troubled.

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Now, perhaps the instinct of their heart was then to say, not be troubled. How can we not be troubled?

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Think of what you've just said to us. Think of what we know. Think of what we don't know. Think of what we're going to do and not do.

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It would have been a deeply distressing and confusing situation. And yet still the

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Lord says, do not let your heart be troubled. Be at peace. Enjoy tranquility and stability.

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Get settled. Get stable. How are they going to do that? How are we going to do that in our circumstances?

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How can we live without our hearts being troubled, tossed and torn, and thrown about by every wind and wave?

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What about when we cannot draw near to God? What about the times when we know that we have failed our

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Lord and our Master? What about the situations when we don't know where to go or what to do, when we're terrified of what we will do or might do or have done?

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Let not your heart be troubled, says our Lord. You may be aware of J .R

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.R. Tolkien's book, The Lord of the Rings, or series of books. And there's a scene in there where an elf queen says to the companions on their trek that they should not let their hearts be troubled.

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I'm so glad that we don't have some fictional character speaking to us like that.

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Those words from that mouth always sound so hollow. The phrasing at that point to me just seems cold, because I know the one who could truly say, let not your heart be troubled.

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He told his disciples, you believe in God, believe also in me.

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He knew that these men did believe the word of God, that they had grasped it in some measure, that they knew the

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God of the scriptures. And now he reminds them that their confidence, their joy, that tranquility and stability come not just from believing in God as God, but believing also in him as God's mediator and God's savior, as the one who brought them into covenant with God and would keep them in covenant with God.

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At the beginning of John's gospel, he had said to the crowds that eternal life lay in believing what he said and believing in the father who sent him.

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And here he is again with his disciples at the end saying, you believe in God, believe also in me, trust in me as God's Messiah, receive what

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God has said about me, receive me. And in receiving me, receive

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God and the life that is in him, entrust yourself to me and all that comes to pass.

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I will bear you safely through. I will watch over you and I will keep you. We will still face many troubles.

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There will be times of darkness. There will be seasons where we struggle. There will be perhaps occasions when we desert and disappoint our

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God and our savior, but let our hearts not be troubled by the troubles that we face.

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We believe in God. Let us believe also in Jesus Christ and walking in his ways, know his tender love and care.