I loved the verse on the front of the bulletin this morning. It came out of Psalms 46, verse 10. It says, "Cease striving and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (NAS)
We moved on in our study of John Chapter 16 this week and looked at verses 16 through the end of the chapter. In my Bible, this area is titled 'The Disciples' Grief Will Turn to Joy'. To understand this, you have to take a gander at what Jesus had been instructing the disciples on all along. He had continually been preparing them for their future without Him, but the disciples were slow to understand, as we would have been if we were in their situation. Today, we have the priviledge of looking through the lens of the resurrection of Jesus. We know the plan that God had and why it was necessary for Jesus to sacrifice Himself on the cross. Even though the disciples should have known, you can see the struggle to understand in this chapter.
The grief the disciples were about to experience was that of a very close friend or family member dying. This type of grief, as some of you have very well experienced yourself, is often more than just emotion, but can manifest in physical ways as well. The disciples grief was very similar to that we experience today.
But Jesus goes on to say that their grief would turn to joy after He was resurrected. Their joy would be such that nothing could take it away. The wonderful thing is that this joy is still the source of strength for Christians around the world to this day. The joy of the Lord is my strength...is it yours?
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