Lord’s Day, Vol. 9 No. 22
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
John 14:1 (KJV) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Jesus tells us that faith in God and in Him is the cure for our excessive anxiety. John Brown in “Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord” observed well, “Ye believe in God; ye believe also in Me; and if you do, why should your hearts be troubled? Our Lord prescribes the sovereign remedy for improper and excessive trouble of heart – Faith in His Father, and in Himself. To believe is to trust, to have confidence in God and Christ. He who thus believes will trust, none that trust but those who thus believe. Whatever happens, “fear not, only believe.” Nothing that can occur can shake your conviction, nothing that looks like counter-evidence can ever neutralize the evidence you have received, that I am the Christ.”
These are Jesus’ words to His disciples as He prepared them for a time when He will not be physically with them. He explained that His ascension to heaven is so that He will prepare a dwelling “mansion” for them for eternity. He shall return to receive them to glory – John 14:2-3 (KJV) In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
In other words, there is a glorious consummation to their faith in God and in Christ at His return. This is Christ’s encouragement to His disciples. John Brown puts it well, “Believe in the Lord your God, so ye shall be established.” There is stability and strength in the heart of a man of faith. We are exhorted to exercise faith in God and in His Christ.
The John Sung chorus “Never Fear, He is Near” puts the text to tune.
Never Fear, He is Near
Never fear, He is near
Look to no man,
Care not what the world may plan,
Only trust in the Lord,
All the way to Beulah Land.
How can we be established in the faith?
Be established in His forever written Word! John Brown exhorts us well, “Believe in His prophets, believe what God says, and what is said about God in His Word; and believe what is said of Christ in God’s Word.”
How can we cast out fear?
It is in worship and prayer. This other John Sung chorus provides the answer.
Only Jesus, Only Jesus
Only Jesus, Only Jesus
Only He can satisfy,
All my burdens are turned to blessings
When I know My Lord is nigh.
The burdened soul unburdens himself or herself to God in the Name of Jesus Christ. There is no situation in our life that is out of the reach of God’s help. Jesus says in John 16:24 (KJV) Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Another chorus that affirms our text is given below:
I Know the Lord Will Make a Way for Me
I know the Lord will make a way for me
I know the Lord will make a way for me
If I look to Him in prayer
Darkest night will turn to day!
I know the Lord will make a way for me.
The psalmist articulated the efficacy of worship and prayer testifying in Psalm 27:4-6 (KJV) One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
In worship, he or she gives His worries to God and in return, given God’s wisdom. The psalmist’s testified in Psalm 27:13-14 (KJV) I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
We are exhorted to wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart (Psalm 27:14). “To wait” is not an impatient word. Rather it is undergirded with hope in our omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God to fulfil His good will as we submit ourselves to His care. There is also a boldness and strength to dare to trust God – But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it (Romans 8:25). This is the faith that God puts in our hearts through the Spirit of Christ that we know the will of God as we wait upon Him – Romans 8:26-27 (KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The frightened, troubled and later restored disciple of Christ, Peter, exhorts us in 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Keep On Believing
We are exhorted to keep on believing. Another John Sung chorus for our encouragement:
Keep on Believing
Keep on believing
Jesus is near
Keep on believing
There’s nothing to fear
Keep on believing
This is the way
Faith in the night as well as the day.
Continue to meditate and study God’s Word with prayer. Continue to come for worship and prayer. Build in your life a consistency and constancy in God’s ability to help in life’s every impasse. Such is the meaning of the Jesus’ words “ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” May the Lord strengthen the hearts of His people. Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee