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Look Beyond The Darkness

by Roland Crim
04/01/21
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Yesterday I was reading John 16 and something came to mind. In verse 7 we read “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Later we read the following in verses 20-22 “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (all verses from NIV)

These four verses each have two things in common. First, each of them has “darkness (something troublesome or problematic)”. In verse 7 it is the fact that Jesus is going away, leaving His disciples. In verse 20 it is weeping and mourning over a loss. In verse 21 it is the intensity of labor pains. Finally, in verse 22 it is a time of grief. Each of these four verses also has a reflection of God’s goodness. In verse 7 this is shown through the sending of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20 points to the goodness of grief being turned into joy. In verse 21 the goodness is the coming of joy and forgetting of labor pains endured as a new life is brought into the world. Lastly, in verse 22 we see rejoicing and joy that shall not be taken away.

Is there a connection between the darkness (trouble) in each verse and the goodness of God revealed later within the verse? Does one directly lead to the other? Though we may offer a “yes” I don’t believe that we are being taught here that we can necessarily draw from this that a trouble will lead to a goodness.

So, what can we then draw from these verses as a common point? I believe Jesus wants us to look beyond our darkness, our troubles and instead look to the goodness of God. I am not saying that we ignore our troubles or take no action. We should definitely be aware of our troubles, and take action where needed. We should take our troubles to the Lord and listen for any direction from the Holy Spirit. We should not though be spending time worrying ourselves overly so. If we have taken our troubles to the Lord, and taken appropriate action, then we have done what we can and should leave it in the Lord’s hands. Yes, we may need to take further action, but we don’t need to constantly worry about our troubles. Being overly worried impacts our ability to do “kingdom business”. We put our time and effort in the wrong place when we continue to worry. This can lead to health issues or other problems as well. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (NIV)

In closing I would like to share a very familiar verse from Paul’s letter to the Romans “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Even though our specific troubles may not be directly related to goodness from God, do realize that if you are called to His purpose that you can confidently look beyond the darkness of your troubles and to the powerful goodness of God.