The Silence of Saturday

In one evening everything changed. For three years the disciples had followed Jesus, leaving behind the life they had known, believing He was the Messiah, the One God had promised long ago. All was going well, until that Thursday night when Judas, one of their own, betrayed Him, leading to His death on a cross. The very next night Jesus’ body lay buried in a grave, along with all the disciples’ hopes and dreams. The One they had seen turn water to wine, walk on water, calm storms, heal the sick, feed 5,000, did nothing to save Himself.

Darkness surely fell heavy upon their spirits on that Sabbath after Christ’s death, weighed down with the horror of the cross, a sense of hopelessness, disappointment, confusion, and a broken heart. I wonder, though, how, in the stunned silence of that Saturday, it could have been different had the disciples believed, or understood, what Jesus meant when He said “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day” (Matt 17:22, 23). 

Had they known and trusted that Jesus would conquer the grave the next day, Saturday may have looked quite different for the followers of Jesus. While they may have still shed tears and fretted over the Jews, the dominant mood would have been one of expectation and hope. They would have encouraged each other to keep watch as they eagerly waited for the next day, when Jesus would fill the disciples with joy and stun His enemies in victory over death. 

Similarly we too live in a day of waiting, a time between Jesus’ promise to return and His fulfillment of it. As Paul writes, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves,…groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoptions as sons, the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:22, 23). In the midst of this waiting Jesus exhorts us, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me…for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2, 3).

Like the disciples on the second day of Jesus’ death, however, I struggle to comprehend this promise of a future paradise. I cannot fathom the idea of heaven, where I will talk with Jesus face to face, be fully restored to His image with no trace of sin, frolicking on an earth free from decay. So I get caught up in daily life. I often live like this world is my only, and ultimate, home, not quite grasping how God’s plan of salvation can impact my everyday.

But though the disciples struggled to understand the resurrection before witnessing it, once they see the risen Christ and are filled with His Spirit, they change. Hope and joy replace grief and fear. A confidence in God’s promises saturates the letters they write to the churches and the sermons they preach to the masses. No longer seeking after the goods of this present world, their greatest desire is to be united again with Jesus and for others to know Him and His salvation, and as a result, partake of the future resurrection.

Because of their witness (and more so, the trustworthiness of Jesus), we too can live in such a way that hope, joy and an eager expectation dominate our days. God didn’t share with us His future plans merely to give us something to think about as we near death. Rather, this hope is meant to be the driving force of our lives, filling our hearts each day with yearning, granting us strength to persevere with love and joy, and fueling our purpose to live for what will last forever. Peter writes that the source of our inexpressible joy is our assured salvation by which God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet 1:3-9).

Jesus will come back for us, resurrecting us to new bodies free from sin and fit to live upon a renewed earth liberated from the weight of the fall. As we might discuss a future trip to Hawaii with friends and family then let’s ruminate over the bliss we will have in heaven. It is by thinking about this happiness to come that we will find strength to persevere through tough times, joy that both baffles and witnesses to the world around us, hope that keeps seeking transformation to Christ’s likeness in both ourselves and others. 

So this Saturday as we wait to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, let’s consider how it would have been different for the disciples had they understood they would see Jesus alive again the next day. As we do, let this also lead us to consider how our own trust in His future, and imminent, return might impact and change our lives, in the routine, in the sorrows, and in the joys. If we truly believe, by God's grace, in this future resurrection and glorification, our emotions, actions and desires will assuredly fill with God’s hope, joy and purpose.

A Well for the Weary

David and his men had traveled for days. Worn and wearied from the trip, I imagine they looked forward to getting home, unloading their bags and having a fresh-cooked meal. But rather than experience a warm welcome, they found the whole city burned to ashes. Everything gone. Even their wives and children, kidnapped. Overcome with grief they “lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep” (1 Sam 30:4).

Perhaps, like me, you know what that feels like. I think of break-ups and the resulting loss of a relationship in which my broken heart bled tear after tear. Or when in college, I grieved the loss of my grandfather and tears flowed until I thought I had none left. Or when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and I cried many nights, stricken with fear and sorrow. Maybe you presently feel spent from weeping over a break in relationship, a shattered dream, a crippling diagnosis, an addiction you long to be free from, the death of a loved one.

Both the people and David felt exhausted and needed encouragement. But after they wept together, “David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters, but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30:6). 

While both the men and David felt heartbroken, they responded to their pain very differently. Whereas the men let their pain overtake them, David took his pain to God. Though the men grew bitter, David grew closer to God. And when the people drew strength from their anger, David “drew strength from the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30:6b NET). 

I’m curious what it looked like for David to draw strength from God. I wonder if he played a hymn on his harp. Or, if he wrote down his fears coupled with his confidence in God’s help, penning words like, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him” (Ps 28:7). Or, if he sought solitude, sitting still before the Lord. However he strengthened himself, I envision God as a never-ending well of strength into which David dropped his broken, exhausted heart, and filled it with God’s love, peace and strength.

When we feel worn from the hardships of this world we too have a choice how we will respond and where we will find strength to carry on. We can choose to try to control the people and events around us, like David’s men did, or we can follow in David’s footsteps to the well of God’s strength. At His well we can fill our hearts with the promises, person, and presence of God. Here we can hear Him say, “Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Is 41:10).

So whether worn from work, challenging people, unbreakable habits, troubling circumstances, or tragedy, God is our source of strength. He doesn’t demand that we muster up the strength on our own, but rather beckons us to “be strong in the LORD and in the strength of His might” (Eph 6:10). So when you feel like you have nothing left to give, don’t give up. You have a God who delights to use His strength for, give His strength to, and be the strength of those who look to Him for help.

Lifting Our Gaze This Week: Ideas for Application

1. What area(s) of your life do you feel spent and in need of strength? In what ways, if any, are you attempting to control the people or circumstances in your life?
2. Consider the following promises of God: Luke 12:24-31, Rom 8:28, Rom 12:19, Phil 1:6, Heb 13:5. By choosing to count on these promises, how might it affect how you deal with your present difficulties?
3. In what ways has God previously strengthened or helped you through past times of weariness? 
4. Describe a time, if any, you experienced the presence of God and afterward felt revived and able to persevere with hope.
5. Look up the following verses: 2 Chron 16:9, Neh 8:10, Ps 23,  Ps 29:11, Ps 119:25, 28, Is 40:31, Hab 3:19, 2 Cor 12:9, 10, 1 Pet 4:11. Consider memorizing or writing one of them on an index card to remind you throughout the day that God is your strength.
6. Listen to, meditate on, and sing out in trust the lyrics to “This We Know”.
7. Spend time outside in creation this week. A great way to calm our hearts and gain strength is by beholding God’s power through the world He has made (Job 38-39, Ps 19:1:1, Rom 1:20).