Trouble

We’ve just past the two-year anniversary of people in Wuhan experiencing a type of pneumonia not seen before, and soon we’ll pass the milestone for the identification of a new coronavirus.  We know what came next:  the disease quickly spreading, and before we knew it, a pandemic affecting every corner of the globe.  So much disruption, so much sickness, so many families grieving for loved ones lost.

As we pass these second anniversaries, it’s clear the trouble is far from over.

Trouble.  Seems too weak a word, sounds like getting in trouble with Mom and Dad over bad grades.  But if you do a quick concordance search, you’ll find that “trouble” is very serious indeed in the Bible.  Recall Daniels’ prophecy of “a time of trouble such as never has been,” for example. (Dan 12:1)  Dig a little more, and you’ll find that some of the words translated “trouble” can also be translated “tribulation”.  Now there’s a word that can never be thought of as weak.

Not surprisingly, trouble in the Bible can be either external threats, or internal turmoil.  Of course they’re related.  When we humans face trouble or tribulation, in whatever form, we become troubled in our minds.

Jesus knew this.  He knew it because he experienced it.  “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ ”  (John 13:21)  We know that later on, in the garden, he was in anguish, deeply troubled.

What then do we make of this?  A short time after being “troubled in spirit”, but before going out to the garden, he said this:  “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)  He seems to be failing to heed his own advice!  That can’t be right.

We need to examine what he says carefully.  It does not boil down to, “No worries!”  He plainly says, “You will have tribulation.”  Strong word, because what he’s talking about is bad in the extreme.  Did he himself have tribulation?  Silly question.  The real question is what did he do with it?  He counsels peace, and ultimately he did come to peace.  He had trouble, both from outside and from within—but he came through it.  He overcame.  He won the internal battle and arrived at peace within, even as the trouble from without got as bad as it could be.

We will have trouble in the world.  It will affect us, perhaps reaching to our very lives, whether it’s the pandemic or something else entirely.  Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  (John 14:27)  He is not being flippant, he is not minimizing or dismissing the very real trouble.  He’s saying there’s a way through it, to a place of peace.  That way is only through him.  He has overcome the trouble in the world, and in his embrace so can we.

God bless you in such times of trouble, the Lord Jesus be with you, the peace that is beyond understanding be in you, in his name.

Love, Paul