What does it look like to be abiding on Saturday? Will you trust God the day after the darkest day of your life? Scripture does not record much about the Saturday between Jesus’ death on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday. His disciples had just faced what at that point in their lives was their darkest day. They had no idea what was going to happen on Sunday. That’s why Easter is a reminder of why we must abide in God and His Word to prepare ourselves for our darkest day.
This past Good Friday, my alarm went off at 6:00 am for my discipleship group. I’m going to make a terrible confession right now. I didn’t want to get out of my warm bed. My flesh said, “The things you do for your faith.” I know, I’m embarrassed even saying that aloud. Then quickly the Spirit said, “The things your Savior has done for you.” I jumped to my feet and said, “I’m up.”
Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. Isaiah 46:9
The Bible is filled with commands to remember what God has done for us. If we learn anything from Scripture it is that humans who wrestle with the flesh often forget God’s faithfulness. That’s why knowing and studying God’s Word is so important. We are called to keep it in our hearts and minds, teach it to our children, bind it to our hands, write it on our doorpost (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) so we don’t forget. His Word should propel us to live for Him, and to trust Him when our lives and the world around us appears to be falling apart.
God’s Greater Plan
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandments. Luke 23:56b
This is all that Scripture gives us about the day between the crucifixion and resurrection. We can only speculate the wave of emotions Jesus’ disciples must have experienced. I imagine they were dealing with grief, fear, confusion, shame, and a whole list of other emotions. The events of the last few days probably played in their heads over and over as they tried to make sense of it all. Life as they knew it had changed in a matter of days. It was hard to see what God was doing in all that had happened.
I believe the gospels give us a glimpse of what abiding looks like when we trust that God has a greater plan. Scripture tells us that when Jesus died, Jesus’ acquaintances and the women who followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things (Luke 23:49). When Jesus was buried, the women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments (Luke 23:55-56a). Then on Sunday morning the women were the first ones at the tomb. I’m not writing this to elevate women, and I can only speculate their motives for what they did. However, I do believe their behavior demonstrates what it looks like to have faith in God’s greater plan. When faced with tribulation, they did not flee. Instead, they stayed close to the presence of God to see His greater plan be completed. And because of their faith, they were the first ones to receive the news that Jesus had risen.
Our Greatest Need
I had someone ask me recently, where is God in all the chaos of the world – division, war, inflation. I believe her question is proof that we were created by a God for order. Therefore, we desire order. It is also proof that the world we live in is broken, and without the Gospel we can’t make sense of that brokenness. This causes us to wrongly assume that God is not present in the chaos.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The disciples must have been so confused by the events of Friday. Like them, we falsely believe that following God means our lives will always be victorious. The problem with that is that we want to define what victory looks like. Many who followed Christ during His presence on earth thought He would save them from Roman oppression. However, God knew that they and we have a greater need. His plan for Jesus Christ was to save us from eternity apart from Him and the sin that enslaved us. Yet, even now when we look at the world around us, we want salvation from our circumstances instead of salvation from our sin.
Sunday Is Coming
My pastor often says that we will all one day face the darkest day of our lives. Some of us have already seen that day and for some of us it’s around the corner. James 1:2 says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Notice he says when, and not if. We will inevitably face trials because we live in a broken world and God works through that brokenness. How will we react to those trials? With worship, drawing near to God? Knowing He is working through them for my good and His glory?
In order to have peace in the middle of tribulation, we must abide in God and His Word. To do this we must know His Word and remember it. We must realize our greatest need over the temporal needs in this world. We must trust that Sunday is coming either in this lifetime or the next.
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