December 7 - For a Little While

A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me. Some of His disciples then said to one another, What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'? So they were saying, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about. Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'? Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. John 16:16-24 

Now you see me; now you don’t. Sounds a bit like a magician, but I can assure you that Jesus was not a magician. Of course, He was telling His disciples about His death and resurrection. A little while…is that three days? It was only hours after He spoke this that He was arrested, then tried, and soon thereafter, crucified. No one had been through such a traumatic time as that…oh, sure, others had been crucified, but perhaps not friends of the disciples. Many Jews were crucified by the Romans during this era—reportedly as many as 500 a day. One historian indicated that there were 2,000 people crucified in just one day in Rome for the entertainment of a government official. You can search for this gruesome information on the internet, if you so choose. One site where this information was available was http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/text/crucifix.htm

Jesus tells His disciples in these red letter words that they are going to have a time of sadness—grief. And then that they will be happy—filled with joy. When one of our loved ones dies we grieve—and we remember good times—joyful occasions that we spent with that person. But our grief is not turned into joy like that of the disciples after Jesus resurrection. There is coming a day when we will all be resurrected—but until then we just have to live one day at a time, endure our sorrows and hold onto the hope that we have in Jesus return. Spiritually we can feast on His word…like this promise that… if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. What a great promise! Ask away for whatever you want. Jesus wants our joy to be full.  

Heavenly Father, I don’t speak from want, for I am learning to be content in whatever circumstances I am, just as you taught in Philippians 4:11. Please allow me to be filled with joy even when I feel sadness. I miss those who have died and gone on to Paradise—but I know that they are at peace where they are and wouldn’t come back if they could. I ask this in Jesus' name. Thank you for your plan for Heaven—a home for all your family.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).