Mary: Learning to Trust God in Times of Crisis
John 19:16-27
Belong to this group and you’re a member of one of life’s most pain-filled communities. It’s a select group with one of the most painful rites of passage imaginable. To enter this fellowship, you have to experience something terribly unnatural.: the death of a child. As one colleague said at a funeral of 21 year old stated: it’s not supposed to be this way, a parent is not meant to bury their child. Children are supposed to bury their parents. Not the other way around. Yet on Good Friday, Mary stood and watched the death of her firstborn child through crucifixion, the most humiliating and painful death in Jesus’ time. That day, Good Friday, was anything but good in Mary’s eyes. A dark cloud hung over her as she entered the fellowship of bereaved parents.
But that’s not the way motherhood started for Mary. The word came from an angel, “You’re going to have a baby. He will be great and called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Upon hearing these words, hopes, dreams and expectations must have begun to grow in Mary, as the baby grew inside her. But now, those words fade into the distance as Mary sees her son beaten within an inch of his life and she now stands before the cross seeing him crucified bleeding and suffocating to death. A parent’s greatest instinct is to protect their child but now Mary stands there completely helpless.
This is not what she envisioned for her son. A throne made of wood, a life interrupted, a mission yet to be completed, a kingdom which didn’t exist. Mary didn’t expect it to end this way. And the goodbyes could only be said at a distance in the midst of great pain and suffering. Memories must have swirled in her mind that day of wisemen and shepherds, living in exile in Egypt, watching her son fall and scrape his knees and comforting him, his working in the wood shop, losing him in the temple as a teenager, the sermons he taught, the miracles he performed, the lives he touched and transformed.
And to make matters worse, Jesus must have told her, like he did his disciples, that he was destined to die for the sins of the world. But surely that was a metaphor and not meant to be reality. His disciples didn’t understand and it must have been all the more difficult for mother to hear and grasp. Yet as time passed, disbelief must have turned to a quiet resignation of God’s purpose for her and His son. Yet it’s one thing to know your child is going to die, but quite another to know how he’s going to die. You never expect it to happen before your time. And so it’s much easier to just put it out of your mind. It’s best trying not to think about it. But now, she can’t avoid it. Here she stands, his every word coming to pass but certainly not in the manner that Mary expected. Every strained breath Jesus labors for, slowly suffocates her heart.
In the midst of such a crisis, what is Mary to do? She really had three choices that day: she could turn her back on God because the God she knew and understood would never allow such a thing to happen to His own son, her son. She could take matters into her own hands, seeking to prevent the crucifixion and bring about a more acceptable solution. Or she could, just trust God. And that may be the most difficult of all.
Repeatedly throughout Scripture, God promises to be there for us in times of great need and crisis. He promised to meet our needs: financial, emotional, spiritual and physical. In fact, one of the names of God is Jehovah Jirah, “I am the God who provides for you.” Over and over, God says, “I will provide….” Phil. 4:19 puts it this way, “My God will supply all that you need from his glorious resources in Christ Jesus.” And that means every need. The problem is you look around and not everybody’s need is met. In fact, our experience is that many times our needs go unmet, especially in times of crisis. So what’s the problem? Is God exaggerating the point? Why do our needs sometimes go seemingly unmet? The Scriptures tell us that with every promise there is a condition: you have to trust Him. The more you trust God, the more God is able to meet the needs of your life. The less you trust God, the less he is able to do in your life. What we’re talking about is faith. Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith, it will be done unto you.” God in effect says you get to choose how many needs God meets by the faith you exhibit and place in God. God says, “the more you trust me, the more I can do in your life. The less you trust me, the less I can do.”
So the obvious question is, “How can I learn to trust God?” How can have greater faith?” You don’t get it by coming to worship or being in a Bible study. You don’t get it by talking about it or just wanting more of it. Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. The more you use your faith, the more it gets stretched and grows. The result is it enables more of what God can do in your life. We call these circumstances that God uses, not causes, trials. 1 Peter 1:7 says, “These trials are only to test your faith to show that it is strong and pure.” Like fire purifies silver and gold, God uses trials in our life to test our heart and purifies our faith if we turn to and place our trust in Him.
There are four common trials we face in life. First is the Pressure Test which asks the question, “How will I handle stress?” Will I depend on myself or other things or will I depend on God? Too often we try to take matters into our own hands and when we do, we cut God out of the mix. Second is the People Test which asks the question, “How will I handle disappointment?” Life is full of disappointments but the most disappointing thing in life is people. Why? Two reasons. People are selfish and secondly, we expect others to meet our needs, needs which only God can meet. Isaiah 22 warns us: “You should stop trusting in people to save you because people are only human.” But God is trustworthy! Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made Him (not other people) their hope and their confidence.” Are you going to turn to and place your trust in others or are you going to place your trust in God? Third is the Persistence Test which asks the question, “Will I keep my commitments?” Life is about commitments. Your life, your character, your eternal destiny is about the commitments you make. You become whatever you’re committed to. The problem is that most people are half committed to a dozen or more things, including God. The hallmark of maturity is not only the commitments you make, but limiting them 2 or three and then keeping them. Your commitments are a test of your character. Psalm 15 says, God blesses the person who keeps his or her vows even when it hurts. That’s what God blesses in life. Fourth is the Priorities Test which answers the question, “Who or what will be first in my life?” Matthew 6:33 says, “Your heavenly Father already knows all of your needs and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the kingdom of God your primary concern.” Saying Jesus is first in your life isn’t enough. He has to be first. How do you know that? Answer three questions: What do I think about the most? Where does my money go first and lastly, how do I spend my time? If your answer is Jesus, then you know he’s first in your life.
So how can you trust God in the midst of a crisis? Five steps. First, remember that God’s power is greater than anything you may face. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 No matter what is happening in your life, God can overcome it and use it to fulfill his purposes in your life and the world. Second, recall God’s faithfulness in the past. Remember the times when God has been there for you in the past. Or read the Scriptures which are an historical record of when God has been there time and time again for His children. Our God is a God of faithfulness. Third, remember God’s promises for the present. Isaiah 30:15 says, “If you come back to me and trust Me, you will be saved and you will be strong.” God says you will be saved from your present circumstances, whether that be mental, spiritual or physical. And God will give you the strength you need to do the right thing if you place your trust in Him. That’s God’s promise! Fourth, see your crisis as a test of faith. The most critical thing is not the crisis or the circumstances but how you face it and react to it. Are you going to use it as an excuse to run from God or blame God? Or are you going to see it as a test of your faith and an opportunity for you to grow in your faith and trust in God. If you see it as a test, then you can know it’s an opportunity for you to develop your faith and shape your person which then allows God to bless you more.
Fifth, realize sometimes God allows us to struggle in the crisis. God can use that experience to shape and mold us for His purposes. In other words, God uses the storms in our life to accomplish His work in us. Cory ten Boom tells the story of Willem who was a Christian in pre-WWII Germany. He had scrimped and saved his money to build a home for elderly Jews who were escaping Nazi Germany, so much so that they had given their bedroom to another family and were sleeping themselves in the hall. Willem walked in one day with a man on his arm. The older men around the table noticed Willem but not the man. The man was in his mid-30’s with the typical broad-brimmed black hat and long black coat. Then they saw his face. His beard was now missing, leaving a gaping wound where youths had set his beard on fire. Corrie’s father had eagerly greeted the man, sat him down and gave him food and water to drink. And then she writes, “And so the shadow fell across us that winter afternoon in 1937. Nobody dreamed that this tiny cloud would grow until it blocked out the sky. And nobody dreamed that in this darkness, each of us would be called to play a role….Today I know such memories are the key not to the past but to the future. I know the experience of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.”
When you depend on Christ, when you trust God in the midst of disappointment, when you keep your commitments even when it hurts, when you put God first in your thoughts and in your money and in your time, God will meet your needs and God will be there for you.
In the 19th century, there was a successful attorney in Chicago named Horatio Spafford. He was intelligent, successful and godly. Early on in his success, he came to the realization that he needed to have balance both in his home and in his church. In 1871, his only son died. A few months later, Spafford’s real estate fortune was totally wiped out in the Great Chicago Fire. Wanting to get away, Spafford planned a trip to Europe with his family, which was to coincide with his close friend’s evangelistic crusade, D.L. Moody. At the last minute, a business development delayed him, so he sent his family on as scheduled, promising to catch up with them later. On the journey, the ship his family was on was hit by an English vessel and sank in 20 minutes. All four of his daughters drowned. His wife survived and was taken to Wales. She sent word back to her husband which simply said, “Saved alone.” Horatio Spafford immediately boarded the next departing boat. The captain knew of his sorrow, so as they were traveling, he stopped the boat where the ship had sunk and his daughters had drowned. Horatio Spafford didn’t understand why all of this had to happen but that day he decided to trust God despite his recent tragedies. As the ship stopped, his sorrow released and tears poured forth. Yet it was in that moment he knew that God was there and all he could say was, “it is well with my soul.” That experience led him to write one of the most beloved hymns ever written by the same name. When we place our trust in God, in spite of all that is happening in our life, even in the midst of tragedy, we are reminded that God is always there and will meet us in our time of need.
