What was the first thing on your mind when you woke up today? If you're like me, you probably rouse and think on the new day and all that will be required of you. Many of us plan out our days in our minds and even on paper, looking ahead into the weeks and months, always considering what lies on the horizon. Are there certain hours in your day, your week, your month, and even your year that you would rather avoid or erase completely from your calendar and not have to go through at all? I must admit that there are periods of time for me that I would prefer never come to pass, yet there is a better way of looking at these "certain hours" that my heavenly Father showed me today in light of John 12:27…
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Jesus is our perfect example of right thinking and we find here that our Savior was willing to endure intense physical, emotional, and spiritual pressure. “Now is my soul troubled…” Ladies, when you and I are troubled as we look ahead at the probable discomfort, the inevitable struggles, the unpredictable sorrows, the particular trials that lie before us, we naturally cry out, "Father save me from this hour!" It's not prayer in which we are engaging, we simply want to be excused from any and all suffering, yet we know the moment is unavoidable as Christ did. How well our Savior taught us that sincere prayer is marvelous preparation for our surrender to those "certain hours" our Father has intended for us to face!
For example, most likely by 3 or 4 o'clock today we will be tired of the many responsibilities we tackled by then, yet we also know there are several more hours ahead of us in which we will still be needed! Perhaps mid-day you've felt weary and worn because it seems your children have used up all your patience for the day or other situations have sapped your strength. You doubt you can make it through the rest of the evening considering you still have dinner to cook and clean up, chores to finish, baths to give, and bed time regime staring you in the face! Many of us would love to just by pass by those arduous hours and say, "Father save me from them!" So too, the world cries, "Calgon, take me away!" as if diving into a tub of bubbles and hiding from "the hour" would solve all our problems. Even so, submission to the will of God can make a tremendous difference in facing those certain hours…
Luke 22:42 (KJV)
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless
not my will, but thine, be done.
Sad to say, believers tend to be expert “escape artists”. We are the masters of justification and highly skilled at manufacturing excuses for our flesh. Ladies, unless we watch and pray always, we may be drawn in the course of the day into those sins which we were in the morning most resolved against! If believers were left to themselves, they would fall; but we are kept by the power of God and prayer. Our Lord prudently noted a very great change of circumstances approaching Him, and so must we if we would survive what lies ahead!
Perhaps there are certain weekly duties required of you that you have wanted to avoid fulfilling at church. You don't like being put into a position of vulnerability and try everything you can to get out of it. Maybe you avoid talking to visitors because you don't know what to say… You don't pass out tracts because it may put you into an uncomfortable position when discussing the things of God. Have you ever dreaded family functions because of the spiritual tension it may bring your way? Is dieting a dreaded, yet necessary issue for you? When that alarm clock starts buzzing, are you reluctant to get up early? When the bills pour in every month, do you despise having to discipline your spending habits until things are paid off? Are you tempted to get out of debt using your tithe money? Have you put off having an uncomfortable discussion with an individual who has offended you? Ladies, all of these are examples of the way we view those "certain hours" looming in front of us that we foolishly beg God to save us from, yet we must understand He has called us to those very hours as Christ has shown us in our main text today. "....but for this cause came I unto this hour." Oh, how we need Jesus attitude and perspective toward the Father's will! What is the cause to which Christ was referring? The answer lies in verse 28 of John 12...
"Father, glorify thy name."
Ladies, these "certain hours" that we strive so hard to avoid are opportunities scheduled for us by the Father to glorify His name! We don't need to be saved from them; we need to humbly accept the demands of duty as Christ did. We don't need to be preserved FROM "certain hours" but rather THROUGH them! Our spiritual growth and joy will actually come from going straight through our difficulties, trials, stresses, strains, sorrows etc., not around them. When we are fully submitted to God in every hour of the day, our sufferings would soon be turned into joy, as those of a mother, at the sight of her newly born infant…
John 16:21 (KJV)
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come:
but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more
the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
Yes, submission to the Father's cause will change the way you and I view the many hours in our day, our week, our month, and even our year. A lifetime can be altered as it is yielded to the Lord! What upcoming hour do you need to entrust to God? Has your own cause opposed God’s cause or been aligned with His? The "certain hour" that you might pray to be spared of can become the point at which you are made whole in Christ as you place your faith in Him to take you through that hour to victory as only He can do!
Matthew 9:22 (KJV)
But Jesus turned him about, and when He saw her, he said, Daughter, be
of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made
whole from that very hour.
Will your faith also make you whole? Ladies, if you're a Christian, Jesus SHOULD be glorified in you every hour of the day - the easy hours and the troubling hours. Time has been given to the child of God for this very reason - do not waste it! Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? “Father save me from this!” or “Father glorify thy name”? One response is rooted in our own cause; the other response is rooted in the cause of Christ. Observe your response to hard times and you’ll discover your true allegiance.
John 12:23-24 (KJV)
The hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
The only way to truly submit ourselves wholeheartedly to the will of the Father and follow Christ's holy example is to die to our own fleshly desires for comfort and ease and bury that life of self-centeredness! Have you fallen into the ground yet, dear lady? The Bible says the son of man should be glorified… Have you cast yourself at your Father’s feet and given yourself to His purposes alone? Such death must take place in our lives hour after hour… In this verse above, Christ predicted His own death on the cross to the disciples - why don't you predict your death today? Your life will yield no increase unless you cast it to the ground. Are you finding it harder and harder to set aside your own needs to meet the needs of others? Make it a point to die to self moment by moment so that God can be glorified in the hours that fill your day! Christ Himself said, "...but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit..." Dead souls are not raised to spiritual life, unless Christ takes them by the hand. There is no better way to prepare to face those "certain hours"!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2004
