When It Looks Like God Is Losing
Good Friday
By Carey Nieuwhof, Founding Pastor
Have circumstances ever gotten so terrible for you that you thought: “There’s no way God could possibly be present?”
I’ve wondered that at times. Honestly, I think most of us have.
Maybe you’ve:
Lost your job.
Had someone very close to you die tragically.
Seen your family fall apart.
And you ask yourself: “Where is God…and why does it feel like he’s losing?”
Today is Good Friday.
Today we stare into the jaws of a profound and powerful mystery.
On Good Friday, as Jesus hung on the cross, it seemed like God was losing.
Imagine standing at the foot of the cross and seeing a man you thought might have been from God hanging there like a common criminal, dying.
Imagine seeing Jesus taken down from the cross, his body lifeless.
If I was there, I could only help but conclude that God had lost.
But, of course, I would have been wrong.
The very moment it appeared that God was losing, God was winning.
He took the worst the world could throw at Jesus—death—and turned it into life.
So what are you struggling with?
My guess is you may have drawn the conclusion that God is losing.
He’s not.
As the cross showed us so powerfully, the moment it appeared by every account that God was losing, he was actually securing the most dramatic victory in human history—our redemption.
So this Good Friday, bring the worst circumstance you face and trust God with it. Tell him you feel like you’re losing, but you are going to trust he’s winning.
Death is not the final word.
Life is.
Love is.
Jesus is.
Trust that.
