So Much for Fairy Tales

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." - Jesus
John 16:33a

Wow, really Jesus? Man what a downer!! I can just hear the thoughts of His disciples. Here was their leader, teacher, Rabi... heck He had even revealed Himself as Messiah by this point. The disciples must have been quite confused; here they are walking and talking with their Savior, and yet He tells them that they will have trials AND sorrows. More than that, they will have MANY trials and sorrows.

At the time when He uttered these words, Jesus was nearly finished with His Earthly ministry. The betrayal of Judas was upon Him and Jesus knew that the disciples were about to encounter the biggest trial of their lives. In fact in the previous verse, Christ tells them that they will be scattered, leaving Him alone.

In short order, Jesus' followers indeed find themselves in the midst of struggle and sorrow. Their hopes of Jesus establishing a new kingdom on Earth where they were to rule and reign must have seemed a fairy tale. "How could anything good come of this?" They must have questioned. It's apparent that they felt this way based upon their reactions; they ran, hid, scampered away like scared kittens.

But we have a luxury they didn't have, Christ's word written down. We need to take a minute to examine what Jesus said a little closer. While He certainly warned us that we would have trials and sorrows, it were His next words that we must hold onto in the midst of the struggles.

"But take heart, because I have overcome the world." - John 16:33b

So does your fairy tale seems more like a tragedy? Does your love song sound more like a bad country tune? Just remember dear friend, the last verse hasn't yet been written.