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n John 16:33, Jesus tells the disciples that they can have peace even in the midst of trouble. Trouble and peace don’t seem to go together, so what did Jesus mean? He wanted the disciples to understand that real peace, lasting peace, had nothing to do with their circumstances. Trouble is a given in life, but it presents an opportunity to exhibit peace by allowing Christ to evidence his life in and through us.
When trouble comes, our first inclination is to believe God has deserted us or doesn’t care about our plight. We look for proof of God’s love by expecting him to rescue us from our difficult circumstance. In short, we place our security in our circumstances changing. But what if our security rested on our beliefs about the goodness of God’s nature and character? What if we could rest in the one guiding our circumstances, and believed we could trust him no matter what we felt?
Much of our pain stems from our worry about the “why” of things happening. Why did God allow this, why is this happening to me, why would a good God allow me to suffer? We may never find the answers to those questions, so we need to let go of them and rest instead in what Jesus says are the secrets to having peace. Here is what he wants us to consider from this passage:
- We can chose peace
- We shouldn’t equate peace with the absence of trouble
- We can chose not to let our circumstances determine our peace, or even our understanding of our circumstances; but we can chose to trust the one who holds our circumstances
In spite of what Jesus had shown them, the disciples were convinced that their security rested in the knowing of what was happening to them. But knowing answers only provides an illusion of peace. Jesus points out that in spite of all they said they believed about him, in a moment the disciples were thrown into confusion about what was happening, choosing to run away and deny they even knew him!
Aren’t we guilty of the same thing? We know all kinds of things about God, we say we trust him, we say we believe in his goodness, but it doesn’t take long for confusion to set in the minute calamity strikes. Instead of trusting the one who controls what is happening, we demand answers. But answers won’t be the glue that holds together a heart that is hemorrhaging. More is required. And Jesus gave us a real life example of what that looked like.
Jesus chose to trust the Father in the garden when he prayed for deliverance from death. He knew that the one who was guiding the circumstances of his life knew what he was doing, even though it meant suffering. The secret to Jesus’ choice was simple; he trusted God. So the next time your looking for answers or feel like you have to know why, remember to do what Jesus did; chose to trust the Father; peace will follow.