Hope When You Need It Most by Jack Hayford

Author:Jack Hayford [Hayford, Jack W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jesus Christ—Seven last words, Christian life
ISBN: 9781441268235
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Did an unexplainable event ever cause you to question God’s promise to you, even just for a moment? Have you found it difficult to hang on to hope when you can’t see what’s ahead? Jesus assures us He is the Beginning and the End, and that “he who overcomes shall inherit all things” (Rev. 21:6-7). Read Hebrews 11.

CHAPTER 7

BE HUMAN ENOUGH TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR NEED

“I thirst!”

JOHN 19:28

Among the words Jesus spoke from the Cross, the fifth and sixth statements are uniquely linked. Although their content is radically different, the gospel record in John 19:28-30 makes it clear that Jesus asked for the drink of water for one primary reason. It wasn’t the most obvious—simply slaking thirst—though the ordeal of crucifixion would be more than reason to cry out for a drink. The horrific energy drain, the perspiration amid trauma, the bloodletting—all would produce rapid dehydration. Furthermore, Jesus had earlier turned down the offer of a drink, including a pain-dulling prescription that not only might have satiated a degree of thirst, but would likely have reduced mental acuity (see Mark 15:23). Instead, the Lamb of Calvary chose to retain command of His senses; any escape from pain or other temporary comfort was not on His agenda.

The one reason Jesus asked for something to drink had to do with what He was about to say. The biblical setting made that unmistakably clear. As the Word incarnate was about to bring His final sermon—a message for all time, to first be proclaimed from the elevated pulpit of His Cross—He needed to clear His voice. The announcement to follow was not to be muttered or choked out but trumpeted so all mankind throughout all history would be able to hear it. But to prepare for that moment, He needed help.

Let me emphasize this carefully, for there is a very practical point for our discipling lessons here on this very hopeless, very bad day. Make no mistake, Jesus was dying, but He was also fully in control of this moment. Everything taking place was His choice. It was true that He could summon an angel host to deliver Him. It was true that no one could take His life, but He chose to lay it down.

And that point—His capacity to choose as He willed—is central to our seeing the next truth, so important for us all when we go through hopeless days. Here it is:

Jesus’ plea for a drink of water is a reminder that no one is so in control, so spiritual, or so self-sufficient that they can make it through a hopeless or bad day without people to help them.

The lesson for us all is centered in why Jesus made known His need, not only that He did. His purpose, as we have noted, was that there would be clarity in the statement He was about to make, and there are parallels to our hopeless days as well.

A hopeless day can blur our perspective and muddy our speech. It can fog the mind

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