Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
John 14:1
Trouble from Helps Word Dictionary ~
5015 tarássō – properly, put in motion (to agitate back-and-forth, shake to-and-fro); (figuratively) to set in motion what needs to remain still (at ease); to "trouble" ("agitate"), causing inner perplexity (emotional agitation) from getting too stirred up inside ("upset").
From Ellicott's Commentary we find greater insight into these words from Jesus.
“It is more natural to take both these clauses as imperative—Believe in God, believe also in Me. Our English version reads the first and last clauses of the verse as imperative, and the second as an indicative, but there is no good reason for doing so; and a sense more in harmony with the context is got by reading them all as imperatives. As a matter of fact, the present trouble of the hearts of the disciples arose from a want of a true belief in God; and the command is to exercise a true belief, and to realize the presence of the Father, as manifested in the person of the Son. There was a sense in which every Jew believed in God. That belief lay at the very foundation of the theocracy; but like all the axioms of creeds, it was accepted as a matter of course, and too often had no real power on the life. What our Lord here teaches the disciples is the reality of the Fatherhood of God as a living power, ever present with them and in them; and He teaches them that the love of God is revealed in the person of the Word made flesh.”
Faith begins with our knowledge of God. Jesus said eternal life was in the knowing of them. We do not trust someone’s word without a basic knowledge of them as an individual being trustworthy. Trust is defined as the assured reliance on someones character, truth, ability or strength. We don’t trust what we do not know. Faith begins with knowing who God is. Our faith will fail time and time again when challenged if we are not able to rest in an assured reliance on His character.
There is no doubt we are living in “troubled” times with an abundance of troubling events. Troubling times, in the world, have existed since the fall of Adam. Sin abounds. The sin nature lives in the hearts and minds of those unyielded to Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Yet Jesus, in the midst of his and the disciples trouble, directs us all to the one sure thing that gives the help we need. Believe in God and Believe in Jesus.
I know when times of trouble knock on our door, we are all tempted to doubt. Every temptation is common to man. Yet what is the temptation? Hebrews chapter three shows us the promise of God, met with an evil heart of unbelief, produced the inability to enter into the rest (or the promise) of God. We all know, without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God, but do we believe the doubt, in the midst of trouble, can produce this evil heart of unbelief which causes us to “depart” from God? We also know that God will never leave us, nor forsakes us, but in our withdrawal from Him, there is no light to dispel the darkness of doubt. The entrance of His word gives light. It illuminates the heart and mind.
I love the thought John chapter one leads us into, IN THE BEGINNING was the word, and the word was with God. Life always flows from the word that God speaks to our hearts. Jesus, from the gospel of John tells us, all that the Father has is his, and the Holy Spirit has been given to take what is Jesus’ and declare it unto us. He holds the word that will dispel the darkness. It’s always at the beginning of every trouble we find ourselves in.
As we enter into 2022, we will face great challenges and more trouble. The question is always how I will meet the trouble when it comes? What will my response be when tempted?
A believing heart is always at rest. Confident in what God has said and knowing God is faithful to His name, faithful to His word, faithful in His covenant. Jesus is the faithful witness to the faithfulness of God. He is faithful over the house of God, which is us!
“Let not your heart be troubled, Believe in God. Believe also in me”. Jesus.