Feeling vs. Truth
A little over 2000 years ago, twelve men were given a front-row seat into the transition of one age to another, they were the only ones who knew the death of Jesus would instantly transform mankind's position with God. This is the most joyful news that a human being could have ever heard. The guarantee of eternal life with the loving creator of everything! Jesus' twelve disciples were the only ones who knew what was about to happen the night of Jesus' arrest.
That night (John 15-16), Jesus told them some of the most glorious truths ever heard by human ears: that when He went to heaven He would send God, the Holy Spirit, to live inside their spirits! That the Spirit would communicate to them everything Jesus wanted them to know! That, if they remained in Him, they could ask the Father for what they desired and He would do it! That they could from now on talk directly to the Father in Jesus' name! These things were all brand new promises. Until that day, no one had ever heard with such clarity that these would be possible...and they were hearing it directly from the Son of God! The joy that could have been in that room!
But the disciples weren't joyful! In fact, the disciples were full of sorrow. They could only see what was happening from one dimension. They were operating on feeling instead of truth. They witnessed the moments leading up to the salvation of the world...and received revelation of the greatest promises the world would ever hear of...but were full of sorrow! Jesus promised them that their sorrow would turn to joy when they understood what He was really saying. They were focused on the worry about what would happen next, even though they were talking with the one they had seen controlling the wind and waves, healing the sick, and raising the dead.
Whenever God does something big in my life, it almost always has the potential to look or feel out of control. God's ways are different than my ways. He operates on a much grander scale than I could ever comprehend. He is very experienced in making all the calculations of the nuances of a human life necessary to "make all things work for the good of those who love Him." God is a master life engineer, and I have no idea how to even turn a life on! When He does something big, it falls outside of my narrow view of how I thought life would look. This presents a choice!
When God does something big, I can either choose sorrow, fear, and doubt that it will work out...or I can choose faith. The choice I make entirely affects the measure I will FEEL the blessing in my situation. If I choose sorrow, doubt, and fear, I will miss out on feeling most of the joy God wants me to feel in His orchestration of my life. If I choose faith, remembering that in 39 years He has never let me fall, then I can savor the joy hidden but available to me in the waves of change.
Some of us are tempted with worry about how "it will all turn out" most days of our life. When I think about all the things I worried about, even last month, not one of them took me down! Not one of them turned out as badly as I imagined it might have. The only things those worries did were distract me from the joy God wanted me to feel in the orchestration He was performing in my life. Worry steals, and faith produces, joy.
Faith pleases God, because He wants His children to experience joy. Worry doesn't honor God's perfect record of working all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). If I am willing to trust in the reality of who God says He is, what He says He does, and the record of coming through He has already demonstrated in my life, then I can savor the joy in my situation, no matter what it might look or feel like in my narrow view.
John 16:5 "But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I've told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Advocate won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
That night (John 15-16), Jesus told them some of the most glorious truths ever heard by human ears: that when He went to heaven He would send God, the Holy Spirit, to live inside their spirits! That the Spirit would communicate to them everything Jesus wanted them to know! That, if they remained in Him, they could ask the Father for what they desired and He would do it! That they could from now on talk directly to the Father in Jesus' name! These things were all brand new promises. Until that day, no one had ever heard with such clarity that these would be possible...and they were hearing it directly from the Son of God! The joy that could have been in that room!
But the disciples weren't joyful! In fact, the disciples were full of sorrow. They could only see what was happening from one dimension. They were operating on feeling instead of truth. They witnessed the moments leading up to the salvation of the world...and received revelation of the greatest promises the world would ever hear of...but were full of sorrow! Jesus promised them that their sorrow would turn to joy when they understood what He was really saying. They were focused on the worry about what would happen next, even though they were talking with the one they had seen controlling the wind and waves, healing the sick, and raising the dead.
Whenever God does something big in my life, it almost always has the potential to look or feel out of control. God's ways are different than my ways. He operates on a much grander scale than I could ever comprehend. He is very experienced in making all the calculations of the nuances of a human life necessary to "make all things work for the good of those who love Him." God is a master life engineer, and I have no idea how to even turn a life on! When He does something big, it falls outside of my narrow view of how I thought life would look. This presents a choice!
When God does something big, I can either choose sorrow, fear, and doubt that it will work out...or I can choose faith. The choice I make entirely affects the measure I will FEEL the blessing in my situation. If I choose sorrow, doubt, and fear, I will miss out on feeling most of the joy God wants me to feel in His orchestration of my life. If I choose faith, remembering that in 39 years He has never let me fall, then I can savor the joy hidden but available to me in the waves of change.
Some of us are tempted with worry about how "it will all turn out" most days of our life. When I think about all the things I worried about, even last month, not one of them took me down! Not one of them turned out as badly as I imagined it might have. The only things those worries did were distract me from the joy God wanted me to feel in the orchestration He was performing in my life. Worry steals, and faith produces, joy.
Faith pleases God, because He wants His children to experience joy. Worry doesn't honor God's perfect record of working all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). If I am willing to trust in the reality of who God says He is, what He says He does, and the record of coming through He has already demonstrated in my life, then I can savor the joy in my situation, no matter what it might look or feel like in my narrow view.
John 16:5 "But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I've told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Advocate won't come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
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