The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Peace

Today’s Reading: Leviticus 24-25, John 15-16, Proverbs 12

Memory Verse: John 3:36

Today’s Passage: John 16:33

Good morning. John 16:33. This is a great verse to start your day with. There are many comforts I could write to you about surrounding John 16:33. If you look at the cover of my Bible, you will see “John 16:33” just below my name. This is MY verse.

We go back a long way. Back in the 1980’s, as a group leader in Concurrent Computer’s National Repair Center, one of my duties was to prepare work assignments. One time we had gotten swamped with peripherals. Dennis, a good Christian brother, was assigned to repair them. The list was extremely long: several pages. I looked up the word tribulation in my concordance and found John 16:33. I wrote the reference at the end of his list just as a joke, not realizing that John 16:33 was meant for me. Shortly after this, I was hit with a lawsuit for one-quarter of a million dollars for an accident involving my truck. I remember getting the notification in the mail. I sat down on the tailgate of my truck and cried. Where was I going to get $250,000? My insurance only covered up to $100,000. I had just gotten married. I was in the process of buying a house, would I lose that? As I wept, I lifted up the letter to the Lord so he could read it. As I held the letter up, He reached down. The only way to describe that moment is that He hugged me, and dried my tears. Everything would be alright. John 16:33 became my verse. I had peace. As for the lawsuit, after several years, it never made it past the litigation stage.

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Are you worried about the economy? Did you lose your job? Do you have a lawsuit against you? Are you overcome by the world? Jesus has overcome the world. He has given us His Word, His Spirit, and His peace. Sometimes it takes time before you realize that God already knows what you are going through. I didn’t have to hold the letter up for Him to read. He already knew about it, what I would do, what he would do, what the lawyers would do, and what the outcome would be. All that we go through is orchestrated to draw us closer to One who loved us enough to die for us: so be of good cheer.

Do you know what else Jesus said? At the end of Matthew, Jesus said, “…and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

Peace. (John 16:33)