“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.” (1 Peter 4:12-13 MSG)
I remember reading a book several years ago that opened my eyes to what Jesus FELT the last 12 hours of his life: his prayer in Gethsemane, as he carried his cross and then nailed to it, and finally until he took his last breath.
Jesus felt despised and rejected. Unfairness, corruption, dishonesty, and unjust treatment. He experienced abuse, oppression and torture. Total darkness and lack of understanding. He felt total frustration, anxiety, hopelessness, desperation. He became confused and illogical. He experienced emotional and spiritual hunger: longing, craving, and yearning. Jesus felt lost, empty, uncertain, perplexed, bewildered, full of doubts. He was consumed with fear, insecurity, and overwhelming loneliness. Pain like no other.
The author wrote: “Perhaps Jesus was silent on the cross because had He even hinted for help all of heaven would have responded.” And then we wouldn’t have been saved.
So, in just counted hours of Jesus’ life on this earth, he experienced all that we have or will at one point or another, too. You’re in the thick of what Christ experienced, too. And even though it seems like there’s no hope in the thick, we’re being refined and sanctified – becoming pure and holy because “Jesus is on the job. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring us closer to him, even if it buckles us up tight on a roller coaster of emotions.
When your children ignore you.
When you’re blamed for something that someone else did.
When you were physically or verbally abused.
When you feel alone and depressed or are anxious of what can happen.
When you don’t understand why you have to suffer in pain.
When you’re treated unjustly.
When you question God because He seems to be silent and not hearing your cry.
And here’s the Promise in the Word that keeps. me. going. in the refining process – that “glory is just around the corner”. He’s been there, done that, and waits with eager anticipation for us to join him in the thick of glory.