Many saints have come to a place called ‘the dark night of the soul.’ It is a time of great testing, struggle, and doubt. Others refer to it as a Gethsemane experience, from Jesus’ agony experience in the garden before His crucifixion, where he asked his disciples to pray, but they fell asleep. It was at Gethsemane that Jesus agonized over his impending death. The dark night of the soul is a place where we feel abandoned. We wrestle with what is going on in our lives. So, when life isn’t working, things don’t make sense, or what is happening seems to conflict with what you believe about God, what then?

One man decided to confront God, and God gave him some rather interesting answers. The man was struggling with the problem of injustice. Seven centuries before Christ's birth, a prophet by the name of Habakkuk was struggling with what was happening in his world. Evil prevailed. Sin was rampant. Violence was unchecked. The righteous were suffering at the hands of the wicked. As we look into the times that Habakkuk was speaking into, we find some incredible parallels to our own day.  When it seems that doing right does not matter, how can we find hope in those moments of despair?

What is the true measure of success? It depends. While we often think about popularity, financial prosperity, status, and achievements, God has a different measurement. Have we been obedient to what God has asked each of us to do according to where He has placed us and the gifts He has entrusted to us? Erwin Lutzer’s book, Failure the Back Door To Success, explains, “Often the doorway to success is entered through the hallway of failure. Our sins are a forcible reminder of our need for God’s grace; our weaknesses make us appreciate God’s strength. An understanding of our frailty is the basis for a dynamic relationship with God.”

An overly self-confident Peter boasted that though all might fail Jesus in the Lord’s darkest hours, Peter would not. Unfortunately, Peter denied knowing Jesus not once but three times and was ultimately shattered by that failure. How could God ever entrust Peter the responsibility of being a key leader in the early church? The question we can ask ourselves is, ‘How can we move forward after a time of failure in our own lives?’

In John 21, we will see both the restoration of Peter and the disciples as Jesus manifests Himself to them in a powerful reminder of their initial calling and discover that God has a plan for them to implement as they address their past failures to move forward in their lives, based upon their unique gifts and temperament.  Two movements in this chapter brought home this message to these early followers of Jesus, but it is equally true of our lives as well.

Death stalks all of our lives. How can we have hope in the times of our greatest grief?  How can we keep going when we feel most like giving up? Life’s darkest hours can only be understood by someone who has walked in that place and come to the other side. The most powerful truths of God are often told in story form. God gave us the most powerful story when he wanted to communicate the greatest truth about life and death. After the cruelty of the cross and the powerful sense of loss experienced by the early disciples, we are told of the dawning of a new day. That Sunday after crucifixion Friday is the exclamation point of our faith. Christ's victory over death means He can promise us life. That is the most glorious message that has ever been told. Jesus Christ came and conquered death. We also need to understand how God dealt with death on our behalf. That is the real issue that prepares each of us not only for life but also for death. One writer put it, “Unless we are prepared to die, we will never be prepared to live...”

Be prepared for a shock. What we may think is the best life may be disastrous. Conversely, many may think a life of self-giving, done for the right reasons, is generally the most rewarding and fulfilling life possible. The most joyful people focus not on themselves but on a cause or person greater than themselves.

Consider the irony that the greatest symbol of Christianity is the cross, which speaks of glory and victory. Yet, the cross was a tool of punishment and extreme torture and death at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. The cross represented the most shameful and despised symbol of rejection and suffering. So, what brought about that change? The death of Jesus and what it accomplished on behalf of humanity to bring about victory over sin, death, and judgment. This amazing self-giving by Jesus has transformed the cross into one of hope and deliverance. In the conclusion of John 19, we discover how, for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame, and the result is his exaltation. Even as Jesus carried the cross, we must also ‘take up our cross.’

Mark 8:34

Then he called the crowd along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.              

What does it mean to take up our cross? We see that Jesus took up ‘his cross,’ and the result was the greatest provision in the universe, both for creation and the human family. Jesus explains that we also need to follow him in this area of our lives, and he continues by describing what it means.

Mark 8:35

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Even as Jesus willingly gave up his life for us, we must also be willing to give up our lives by serving Jesus’ will and agenda. In the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus, we discover the pattern that produces life for ourselves and others.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE PRESSURES OF MAKING WRONG DECISIONS

The earliest form of a confessional statement of faith was in the second century, known as ‘the Apostles Creed.’ In describing the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Apostle’s Creed states it this way:

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
 who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
 born of the Virgin Mary,
 suffered under Pontius Pilate,
 was crucified, died, and was buried;
 he descended to the dead.
 On the third day, he rose again;
 he ascended into heaven,
 he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
 and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

In John 19, we see exactly how Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. Pilate had evaluated Jesus and found that there was no basis for the charge against Jesus and presented an option to the Jewish religious leaders and the crowd that had gathered to release a prisoner. The crowd shouted back that they wanted Barabbas, the known insurrectionist, to be freed and Jesus crucified. In this exchange of dialogue between Pilate and the religious leaders, including a Judean crowd sympathetic to their antichrist viewpoint, there is pressure exerted to subvert or undermine justice. Four times in Pilate’s engagement with Jesus, he concludes that there was no basis for the charge against Jesus. Still, rather than letting him go, this examination became a source of attack upon Pilate’s leadership. If he lets Jesus go, he will lose control of the crowd and possibly his political standing before Caesar. We all face times in our lives when we experience pressure to make an uncomfortable and even a wrong decision that will affect not only ourselves but innocent people. How can we overcome the pressure of making wrong decisions? What we need to understand are some of the underlying factors that contribute to these kinds of decisions.

In his book ‘A Mind for God’, James Emery White explains ideas' significance and impact on behaviour. As he points out in Historian Richard Weikart’s book, ‘From Darwin to Hitler’ in which he examines the revolutionary impact Darwinism had on the ethics and morality of social thinkers in Nazi Germany. Believing that Darwinism had overturned any sense of the sanctity of life, an evolutionary ‘fitness’ (especially in terms of intelligence and health) became the highest arbiter of morality for the Nazis. Weikart concludes that Darwinism played a strategic role not only in the rise of eugenics but also in the rise of euthanasia, infanticide, abortion and racial extermination-all ultimately embraced by Nazis. 

The contention that Hitler built his views on Darwinian principles raises one of the most important truths a mind can comprehend: Ideas have consequences.” White goes on to share that the great challenge to the Christian faith today is not atheism but secularism, which is a faith system. “The heart of the secular religion is moral relativism, functional atheism, if you will, which holds that what is moral is dictated by a particular situation in light of a particular culture or social location. With moral relativism, moral values become a matter of personal opinion or private judgment rather than something grounded in objective truth.” In other words, where do I get my basis for making decisions in my life? Is it defined and determined by the continual shift in cultural and social mores and values? Or do I make decisions from the framework of biblical truth as found in the person of truth, namely Jesus Christ?  

We all come to those moments where we wonder how to handle some of life’s greatest challenges. What does God require of us? What is His will in this moment? What direction do we need to take at this point in our lives? Decisions are demanded of us. We may have a rough idea of what we should be doing, but we don’t know how the specifics will work out. 

Even someone who knew our Lord Jesus Christ as well as the apostle Paul, struggled with knowing exactly what to do at times. That may seem strange to us, but it is true. Paul was trying to bring the good news about Jesus to people in present-day Turkey, but he found that he was being prevented from moving forward. God finally directs them, but then they experience incredible hardships.

I wonder how many believers are upset, disappointed, or questioning God when they do the right thing and bad things happen to them. How do we handle life when circumstances seem to turn against us? How would we respond to being misunderstood, beaten, and imprisoned? Would you feel betrayed? God, I was only trying to do Your will, and now I’m suffering. Did they feel abandoned? How many question God’s direction when things don’t turn out as you think they should? I know God called me here, but things are not turning out the way I think they should.  This happens in marriages, in jobs, and in ministries. How did Paul and Silas handle this incredible reversal? How did they handle this pain and disappointment?

John 18:1-27

HOW TO ADDRESS CONFRONTATION IN A POSITIVE MANNER

The most challenging aspect of life, particularly in a leadership capacity, is addressing confrontation positively. I can think of no better model of dealing with adversarial issues than seeing Jesus deal with the most challenging situation in his earthly life. Throughout the gospel of John, there is tension between what Jesus is teaching and doing among the religious leadership of that hour. We are about to come to the culmination of that conflict and how Jesus addressed it. In shifting in the book of John from the upper room teachings of Jesus and his intercessory prayer to his arrest and the denial of Peter, John’s account is very different in his emphasis than the other gospel writers. John does not bring out the agonizing prayer of Jesus in the garden, the sleeping disciples, or the betrayer’s kiss. Yet, John brings out the profound sense of Jesus’ willingness to give up his life for the disciples' sake. This action is the cornerstone of the Christian life. Jesus’ obedience in laying down his life will bring about the most important event in human history and the incredible implications for the human condition.

John 18:1

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side, was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.

In this encounter with his enemies, Jesus teaches us some powerful truths in how we could go about confronting evil and injustice in a positive manner that will bring about the possibility of good outcomes.