16 “In a little while you won’t see me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see me again.”
17 Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? 18 And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”
19 Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. 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.
John 16:16-20
Dear God, I was at a Jon Guerra concert last night at the Rockbox here in our small town. He was really terrific. And by terrific I mean seemingly authentic in his faith, how he worships you, and how he then humbly represents you. As he played his songs, which he describes as being less Sunday morning worship songs and more Monday morning worship songs (that’s a great description, by the way), I could see the thoughtfulness of how he had really spent time with scripture and the people recorded in it. He had some great insights. He also had plenty of worship in there.
One of the things he did was ask the audience the question, “What is the most offensive thing Jesus said in the Bible?” People offered some different answers, but his answer was, “Don’t be anxious.” He mentioned Jesus saying that our grief will turn to joy, so I decided to spend a little time with that verse this morning as it relates to anxiety.
I think the deeper I sink into you, even though my sinking seems to be at a snail’s pace sometimes, the smaller this life becomes. It also helps that I am getting older and many friends are starting to die. Life is feeling shorter and shorter. Let’s be generous and say that I have 85 years on this earth. Could be shorter. Could be longer. But even it I were to get 100 years, it would still be so small in relation to the history of the planet. Almost nothing. Our country is about to turn 250 years old. And for the last 80-ish years, it has been one of the most powerful and influential. My entire generation of Americans has grown up in this global position of relevance and dominance. What if we’ve made an idol out of all of it? Out of having the best life we can have individually. Having the most influential and powerful nation. As I sat there last night and I thought about how small it all truly is and how big your eternity is it helped me to put into perspective my fears that our country is on the wrong track or that I will surely be crushed by the amount of work I have to do.
Father, I still don’t see it clearly, but sometimes I feel like I get glimpses of just how big you are, how big your eternity is, and just how small the time horizon I see is. When I get those glimpses, when I turn my eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, then the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Help me to keep my eyes on Jesus today and to offer that vision to others.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
P.S. I want to be clear that there are people who have legitimate concerns about how they will get their daily bread today. Help me to also be part of your plan to meet their need.
Emails to God 