God’s not done.
as I was driving home last night, I heard these very words whispered to me, “I’m not done.”
this weekend we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. we celebrate the fact that He rose from the dead and defeated death, once and for all.
but before the celebration on Sunday comes, the fact of Friday is engraved in our hearts.
the Bible says in Isaiah 53:6 that we all have left our Savior to follow our own way,
“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all” (NLT).
the reality is, we all have turned away from our Savior. I’ll be the first to confess that when I read the story of the disciples running away & denying Jesus, it’s very easy for me to point fingers at them. how could they desert Jesus when they witnessed miracle after miracle? how could they desert Jesus when Jesus was the one who called them each to something more? how could they desert Jesus when He would go to the cross & die for them?
but the reality of my life sinks in after reading these chapters of the disciples denying Jesus. I have been the denier. I haven’t stood up for Truth when I knew I should have. I let people mock Jesus in front of me without saying that He died for me. I have used the Lord’s name in vain, asking Him for things instead of thanking Him for what He’s done in my life and what He’s already given me.
it’s so easy to point fingers at the disciples, at Peter, for denying Him and being afraid. but of course they were afraid. to them, it felt like the person they left everything for left them to deal with the Romans and the Jews, who were trying to kill them, too. they were afraid of losing their life. before the resurrection happened, there was a deep grief and pain that came with the disciples thinking that Jesus had let them down.
maybe you have been there, too. I know I have. the pain of this life sometimes leads me to forget that Jesus will never leave me & He will never forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6). I allow the enemy to have access to my mind and whisper to me, “Did God really say…?”
the reality of this life is that we are all waiting for a promise from God that has yet to be fulfilled. the disciples were waiting for Jesus to fulfill the very Scriptures that told of His return. the Jews were waiting for their Messiah, who they thought would be a political Savior and save them from Rome. our waiting today looks a little different, but the reality of life is the same.
maybe you are waiting for a baby, a spouse, a job, for your family member to be healed. you’ve cried out to God, “Lord, where are you?” and you felt like He didn’t answer. or maybe He has, but you’re still waiting. His promise has yet to come to pass.
whether we know it or not, we are all awaiting the return of Jesus. Paul explains it this way in Romans 8:18-25,
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
as I wait for the return of Jesus, the reality of the crucifixion settles deep within me. I was the one who hung Jesus on the tree. I was the one who Jesus had to die for. He died for every single human being you interact with on a daily basis. He died for you, and He died for me. He thought of you, and He thought of me when He took on the sins of the world.
as believers, we know that Friday isn’t the end of the story. that’s why it’s called “Good Friday”. but for many, they live in the reality of Friday in every day of their lives. they don’t have the hope of Jesus, and their life is a constant loop of Fridays.
whether you are a believer or not, if you have breath in your lungs, God’s not done. the world is awaiting the return of Jesus. one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).
until that day comes, God isn’t done. He is continuing the story for you, for me, and for everyone on earth. it may seem like the world is falling apart, but as we all know, Sunday is coming. the world may be stuck in Friday, but we know that God isn’t done with redeeming His creation.
Paul declares in Romans 5:6-11,
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God” (NLT).
wherever you are on your journey with God, know that He’s not done with you yet. Paul said it better than I ever could- “But God”. that is the way all of our stories can end when we place our hope in Him. just as He whispered to me, “I’m not done”, I know He isn’t done with you either.
Friday has come and gone, but Sunday is here. and we praise God that our hope is not of this world, but in Him alone.
