Where could they even go from here? The sorrow and confusion His followers must have felt, as He was forcibly led to Golgatha, bloodied, beaten, and scourged. They thought He would be their hero, their rescuer, their hope. But what hope did they have now? And who could they blame? They had turned and fled, none of them did what they thought they would. Their world was swirling down, so much loss, so much disappointment. Everything they believed in was taken.

In truth, we would have felt the exact same way. We have the gift of seeing it from the other side, from seeing it in the after. It makes me wonder, don’t we all have the potential to respond exactly like them? In the midst of heaviness that has us swirling down, in loss, in disappointment, everything we love taken from us, what is our response? Do we have faith to know that Christ is risen? Do we understand that power? Or have we placed our faith and hope in something else?

When we’re hurting, this is hard. It’s hard to believe in the after. It’s hard to have faith that Christ is the victor. We’re crushed in our pain, in our loss, in our anxiety of what if. But we must see Him on the throne, lifted high, alive. THIS is our hope. Our sorrow, our pain, our struggle doesn’t take Jesus off the throne. He is seated.

And He is familiar with our pain, He has touched it, He has the marks in His hands. He did this for us, for all of us. Don’t let your spirit be hardened by loss and confusion. Open up and let your spirit be full of the glory of the Lord. Keep your faith, hold it fast.

All of us struggle and hurt, but Christ is risen. He has overcome and He is our hope. One day all will be restored, one day we will not hurt, one day all will be whole. One day. It’s coming friend.