John 16:31-33
At the Worst of Times

Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"

New Revised Standard Version

One of the children's books I most enjoyed reading to my young daughter was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. We try so hard to "Have a Nice Day!", and we so frequently fail to achieve that unrealistic benediction, that we frequently find outselves just like Alexander, frustrated, irritated, and convinced that every little thing is conspiring to make our day into a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Then we are confronted with horrible events, terrible choices, and circumstances in which we can see no good. The impact on us goes beyond what could be dismissed as a "Very Bad Day", and we find ourselves anxious, depressed, and fearful that there is no way out. We wonder how we will ever make it through, and if we do, how we will ever get things back to as good as they once were.

When we stop and think, even during those very bad times, we realize that it could even get worse. Very few of us have ever had bands of powerful people trying to kill us. Most of us have never experienced total loneliness when every one of our close friends abandon us at the same time. Almost no one reading this article will have experienced the inhumane torture used as punishment by the Roman soldiers during the first century.

We absolutely understand why Jesus snapped back at his disciples in the first verse of the passage. As the group is walking to Gethsemane, Jesus knowing he would be betrayed within a few hours, his disciples had just chided him for not speaking plainly in the past, and that they could now understand his plain talk and could believe. "Oh, really?" Jesus responds.

But then look at what Jesus makes out of the world's most dreadfully horrible day to come. Yes, he will be completely abandoned by every human -- but God will be with him. Yes, the evil in the world will have him tortured and put to death -- but he has already conquered that evil. In the middle of the worst that could be done to Jesus, he will have peace -- and it is the same peace that he gives to his followers.

That just cannot be! When we experience our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, we rarely feel peace! We ache for pity, for comfort, for someone to agree with us that we truly are having a miserable day. We growl at people who encourage us to "look on the bright side!", usually because we don't want to so quickly release the excuses for why our plans have failed, we don't want to pass up the chance to gather sympathy, or we just want to crawl into a hole and be apart from those who might cause us more pain. We want to be pathetic, at least until we decide to be otherwise.

The scriptures tell us another way. To walk in God's Way, we have to give up our plans and live by God's plans, so it is up to God to determine if plans have failed. To walk in God's Way means we are open to be filled with God's love, which surpasses all the sympathy even the most well-meaning friends can offer. To walk in God's Way means giving up the idea that we can crawl away from pain, and instead giving ourselves to God to heal the pain. It is entirely a matter of perspective -- are we our own, or are we God's own? If we are God's own, doesn't the Bible promise that God cares for His own?

Yes, and in the assurance that God is present, even in the worst of times, there truly is peace!