Let Not Your Heart Be Overcome
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” John 14:1
The disciples were concerned about Jesus’ imminent departure from them. Jesus says not to be troubled at the fact that He will not be on earth, walking with the disciples through the rest of their lives. He wants the disciples to remain steadfast according to the strength that He alone could impart. He looks to their hearts, aiming to give comfort and emotional support.
So, he encourages the disciples that they believe in God, and in Jesus. The command to believe in God (14:1) can also be translated: “You believe in God.”¹ He reminds them of the preciousness of their faith; faith will get them through.
Do you not wish to be seeing Jesus, in person, to sooth you right now? Do you not wish to have divine hands wipe away the tears of your eyes? The disciples would experience great hardships as a result of following Christ, but they would not have him present in a face-to-face sense either. Jesus advocates faith for them and their troubled hearts.
“Let not your hearts be troubled” can also be translated: “Do not let your hearts be overcome with turmoil.”² Jesus is not saying that sadness and tears are inappropriate in this life. As for me, Jesus always helps me through my emotions, rather than shooing them away. He is a caring Savior and Friend. But, he does warn against being overcome by sadness—a warning my heart has had to heed many times. We don’t want to cede victory to our sorrow.
Grief, sorrow, and brokenness in this world can feel so very overwhelming. But trust and faith in God breed a confidence that can carry us through the dark days that we face. We can be confident that God walks us through our emotions when we call to Him, that He communes with us as an infinite Friend, that He cherishes our hearts and woos us to stay close with Him while in pain, and that He takes the lead in our lives to bring us through pain with purpose—and that purpose is to please Him still when the lights of our lives go out. Our meaning is derived from Jesus, and we do not have to suffer without confident faith.
“Do not let your heart be troubled”—doesn’t it matter greatly that these words proceed from the mouth of Jesus? It is as though I can see these words issuing from His lips, straight to my heart. This is the Savior who would go to the cross, to the suffering cross, for us. And so, “What myriads of souls have not these opening words cheered, in deepest gloom, since first they were uttered!”³ Let them bring cheer to your hearts too. Imagine Jesus speaking them to the gloomiest places in your spirit.
He knows that you need emotional support and affirmation right now. Let these words give that support to you. He is the God:
who is acquainted with all our secret undiscovered sorrows, with the wound that bleeds inwardly; he knows not only how we are afflicted, but how we stand affected under our afflictions, and how near they lie to our hearts; he takes cognizance of all the trouble which his people are at any time in danger of being overwhelmed with; he knows our souls in adversity.4
He is not discounting your emotions but giving your heart an arm of strong support.
You can venture out of the dark corner. You can visit the light once again. You can open that Bible to read more of God’s words to comfort you. You can pray with a friend willing to help you. You can open your home to family there to support you. You can allow the church to minister to your heart. You can breathe again. You can stop feeling like you’re sinking in this world. “Let not your heart be overcome with turmoil.”
Sorrow will not overtake the heart that has faith. Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins, and he rose from the dead to conquer sin and death. We know that—on this side of the cross. But the disciples did not understand these things yet; they surely would remember Jesus’ words and take comfort from them all the more with this new understanding. Lean into the saving death and resurrection of Jesus with confident faith.
Sorrow does not have the victory because the resurrection of Jesus will not allow it.
Believe, and let not your heart be overcome.
¹Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008. ²Borchert, Gerald L. John 12–21. Vol. 25B. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002. ³Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.
4Henry, HOMatthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994.
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