Focus: Bleeding, Yet Blessing!

Text: Jh.14:1

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."

Things all of a sudden changed around Jesus. Darkness was hovering over the atmosphere. Hostility against Jesus was growing from the corridors of power. Death was imminent, and the disciples of Jesus Christ could feel something sinister lurking around the corner, and their hearts were greatly troubled. They felt like something was destined to go wrong and that they might likely lose their Master at any moment. The Master Himself could feel their hearts pumping at a high rate. Pressure was mounting and danger was looming large in front of them.

The Master Jesus Christ quickly called them together and said to them, "Let not your hearts be troubled." His words were meant to quiet their troubled hearts. He was telling them not to allow the external pressure around them to get into them and become an internal reality. Good if the boat is on water, but dangerous if the water begins to get into the boat. 

If the heart is troubled, how can it withstand the trouble coming from the outside?

If the storm in the heart is not arrested, the heart will sink into the stormy waters of this life. Hence the words of Jesus Christ to His disciples: "let not your hearts be troubled."

*What troubles the heart?

The heart is prone to being troubled by many things. Luke writes, "Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have TROUBLED YOU WITH WORDS, subverting your souls…" (Act.15:24). Paul says, "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by WORD, nor by LETTER as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" (2Thes.2:2). 

Words and letters can shatter the heart in just a moment. Certain words are troubling to the heart. Negative words break the heart. Discouraging words damage the heart. Words create fear in the heart.

 Paul says, "We are TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair" (2Cor.4:8). Trouble is not a one-sided thing. It can hit you from all sides. Ask Job, and he will tell you. He woke up one morning and saw his world turned upside down from all angles. Our world is a factory where troubles are manufactured. One saying has it: 'One day, one trouble!' There's still another: 'Big man, big trouble.' Paul says again, "For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE; without were fightings, within were fears" (2Cor.7:5). From left, right and center troubles were brewing. 

External fightings and internal fears, making the heart uneasy.

Peter tells us that our righteousness can put us into trouble. Peter says, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled" (1Pet.3:14). We live in a world where living and doing right is unacceptable to the worldly. Christ said to Martha, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things" (Lk.10:41). Martha was troubled by many things, and so are we. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet" (Mk.13:7). News of international conflicts, national crises, and world economic mess create troubles for the heart. Global disasters trouble the heart.

Jesus said to His disciples, "Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" (Lk.24:38). Thoughts of anxiety trouble the heart. Are the reasons for our troubled hearts really reasonable? Is it proper to trouble one's heart when you have the Almighty God in your corner?

God doesn't want us troubled for anything, because He lives in us, He is with us, He is upon us, and He is surrounding us. His presence in our lives is our assurance of security. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God…" Trusting, relying or leaning on God is the cure or antidote for a troubled heart. We either trust God or we rust. He said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (Jh.14:27). Let's guard our hearts against fear and anxiety!

*Bleeding, yet blessing

Jesus Christ was bleeding at the time He was encouraging and comforting His disciples. He was emotionally in pains and in agony of soul. His pain started at the instance of the death of Lazarus. We read, "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (Jh.11:33). Death is abnormal in God's world, and it troubled Him. He was troubled to see all sorts of abnormality in God's world. 

Man, God's highest and noblest creature, was suffering diverse abnormalities due to His own stupidity.

From the gravesite of Lazarus, He could see His own death, death far worse than that of Lazarus - the most painful death ever known to man. Jesus Christ said, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour" (Jh.12:27). We read, "When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me" (Jh.13:21). He was troubled in his body, soul and spirit. Troubled by the betrayal of a friend. Troubled by what life had become for man, and troubled by the ruin sin had caused in man's life.

In the midst of His own trouble, Christ summoned the courage to encourage His disciples. While He was bleeding He was blessing them. Paul says, "And labour, working with our own hands: BEING REVILED, WE BLESS; being persecuted, we suffer it" (1Cor.4:12). That is exactly what God wants you to do. 

In your pain find the courage to relieve others of their own pain! In the moment when your heart is bleeding, find a way to help those in pain! Don't let your personal pain hinder you from being and doing good! You can get out of your pain by helping those who are going through pain. Don't die of self-pity! Refuse to be imprisoned by your own pain! The good you do for others has a way of coming back to you. While you bleed, bless!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter