Day 33 - April 2nd 2022
READ JOHN 14:15-31
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
Think about John 14:29 “I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.”
Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time preparing His disciples for his departure only for them to be in denial about it the entire time. I love that Jesus basically said “I’m telling you now so that when it happens, you’ll believe.” His death was going to be incredibly hard on his apostles and the other followers. But rather than shield them from it, He prepared them for it… so that when it happened they could be reminded yet again that He was faithful.
Sometimes when bad things happen to us, the last thing we think about is how faithful Jesus really is. I don’t mean to imply that Jesus WANTS bad things to happen to us. On the contrary, His desire to prepare His disciples for this difficult event proves His love and kindness. But for us, when bad things happen, we are often tempted to feel as though God must not care. Or that He must not be faithful. This story is a wonderful reminder that neither of those things are true.
God never promised that bad things wouldn’t happen. He just promised that if and when they did He would go ahead of us and prepare a place for us where we could continue to experience His faithfulness.