¹ “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

Never has there been a more timely message than this one. In the face of growing despondency and confusion, when everything looked to the disciples like it was going downhill fast, Jesus counsels them to believe in Him. Raw, audacious, blind faith. Not blind in the sense of stupidity or ignorance, but blind in the sense of holding on to Jesus when nothing else makes sense, even when He doesn’t make sense.

They had been afraid before when all seemed lost. Remember when Jesus came walking on the water in the midst of a monster storm that had even the most experienced, weather-hardened fishermen among them frightened out of their minds. Then Jesus calmly spoke, “It is I; do not be afraid” (John 6:20).

That was part of the training of the twelve then, but things were different now. In the Upper Room He was not offering His presence to them . In the storm event, He offered His presence to them, and in fact got into the boat with them. But now He has told them He is leaving them and they cannot follow Him. So how could their hearts not be troubled?

The Master cuts to the quick in His hard-core training of the eleven. At the core is faith in Him, just like they had faith in God. No clear teaching on the deity of Christ can be found. The same kind of faith that they had in the God of (what we now call) the Old Testament, they should now have in Him, Jesus. If He were not God, then Jesus would be uttering blasphemy. He asks the same level of faith, putting Himself on the same level with God. It is like He is saying, “Listen carefully to me, understand what I am saying. What is about to happen will rock your world. Everything changes.”

Of course, for God, nothing changes. But the ramifications of their leaving all and fully committing to Jesus are eternal in scope, epic in history, and profound in concept. When Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt 16:16), eternity pivoted. When Martha spoke similar words , “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world” (Jn 11:27), death gave way to life.

The message stays the same today. No matter what we are facing, no matter how difficult our life, no matter how impossible things look, the message of Christ remains the same. “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” In the dark night of the soul, God calls us to believe He is there with us and He is good. We have nothing to fear. We have Him.

Lord Jesus, though I am discouraged and feel defeated, beaten down and fearful, I reach out, against all I feel, and dare to believe and trust in You.