Last week, we learned about the power of praise and were challenged to praise God no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in. 

You may have heard that you need to be careful what you pray or ask for because you just might get it.  The saying also seems to ring true to be careful what you preach because you just might get to live it.

Well, I thought that our basement flooding and getting that cleaned up a few days before that message was challenging enough.  After preaching it, our AC broke, and septic backed up.  Not a good combination!  I’ll be honest and say that I did a little more repenting than I did praising through it.

As Jesus said, in this life we will have troubles.  We live in a fallen world and none of us have to look far for the evidence of this truth.  There are some situations, however, that are more challenging for us than others. 

I may be partial to this opinion due to my own recent circumstances, but I believe that one of the most difficult situations for us in life is that of loss.  Many of us share in that mourning as we’ve lost loved ones close to us in death recently.  It’s a harsh reality as we feel that no only have we suffered loss, but that a part of us has been lost as well.

It’s challenging, but possible, for our grief to be coupled with hope and to even find reason for praise in the midst of our season of mourning.  We find such an example in Job.  Within a short period of time, Job lost his livestock, income, and on top of it all, he lost his children to death.

Job 1:20-22

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

    and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

    may the name of the Lord be praised.”

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Job was able to worship and give praise in response to tremendous loss in his life.  We easily praise Him when He gives and we learn to praise Him even when He takes away.

This morning, we turn to a time in the life of Jesus when He was preparing for His own death.  As if though this was not grim enough, His death was going to happen through one of the worst types of losses: betrayal.  Losing someone close to us in death is challenging, but losing someone close to us by their own choosing…  Well, there aren’t even words to describe the emotional roller coaster that results from that type of loss!

It’s heart-wrenching to face the reality that you will never have the opportunity to be with your loved one again on this side of Heaven.  However, it’s even more difficult to encounter people who have that opportunity, but either deny it altogether or maintain enough of a relationship with us just to use us for their own advantage.

We expect it from those who don’t care for us, we shouldn’t be surprised when those who don’t follow Jesus betray us, but how do we handle it when a brother or sister in Christ does so?

David encountered such a situation.  In fact, when Jesus warns of His coming betrayal, He even quotes from:

Psalm 41:9

Even my close friend,

    someone I trusted,

one who shared my bread,

    has turned against me.

David also wrote:

Psalm 55:12-14

12 If an enemy were insulting me,

    I could endure it;

if a foe were rising against me,

    I could hide.

13 But it is you, a man like myself,

    my companion, my close friend,

14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship

    at the house of God,

as we walked about

    among the worshipers.

David had plenty of enemies being in the position that he was in.  For years, he lived on the run from Saul attempting to take his life and even entire nations hated him.  However, he seemed to be blindsided and affected by the betrayal of a close, supposedly Godly, friend in a way that none of his enemies could have impacted his life. 

How did he resp