“Father the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you”. John 17: 1
Do you ever question God’s timing? Do you find yourself doubting whether life is moving at the right pace and that you can fully trust God with the season He has you in right now?
Let me assure you that God is a God of order, certainty and precision. No detail is ever overlooked, no right opportunity ever missed or connection ever passed by. He will always lead you to victory and break-through, the only thing we need to trust is his timing. “The hour has come…” The crucifixion was planned from the beginning of time. Jesus knew what his life on earth would involve and He knew the price he would pay. Jesus was prepared for the trial, He was equipped to endure. God will never put you in a position that you are not ready for or a situation that will overwhelm you. In his goodness He will carefully lead and guide you and equip you so that on the day of testing you will be able to stand. So when we consider Jesus’ greatest moment of trial and tribulation how did the Father equip him?
Let’s examine what came before this moment. We see Jesus alone with the Father. He was strengthened and prepared through relationship, absolute love, complete agreement and total surrender to a shared goal. The Father and Son would walk through the trial together. The son would physically endure, be spiritually separated, and be rejected by men. The Father would have to watch, to allow, to stand back, to do nothing. There is no deeper expression of love than what we see at the cross. Two parties both fully committed to each other in the part that they would play and both fully committed to saving their children. It is because of this obedience and ensuing victory we can have confidence for every trial that we face. There is nothing that we are not equipped for, because Jesus has gone before us. It’s His strength that we draw from. Jesus as the Son models to us how we walk through trial and tribulation. We lean into the Father and our identity as sons and daughters. We draw strength from communing with him.
Notice how he says “ the hour has come…” It wasn’t an actual hour because on reading scripture we understand the stages he went through. We know he endured the agony of Gethsemane, the morning of scourging, the day of the crucifixion and the death and separation before he rose again, But when Jesus speaks, faith speaks and he sees it as an hour. The time of trouble is short- especially when you are focused on the joy that lies ahead; “For the joy set before him he endured the cross”. Hebrews 12:2 Trials always begin and end, they start and finish and we pass through them. Joy is the currency of the Kingdom, that is where we abide.
There may be trouble and tribulation, at times, but Jesus has overcome it and you can take heart today that it will surely pass.
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Who Do You Say I Am Series – Exchange Church Belfast 2020