When Jesus told his disciples he would be leaving for a little while and they could not go with him, they were perplexed to say the least. They had a lot of questions. Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”¹ And then added, “Lord, why can I not follow you now?”² Instead of answering his questions, Jesus said this: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”³

But they continued to ask questions. “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”⁴ And Philip needed a sign. “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”⁵ And Judas (not Iscariot) asked, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”⁶ And a few minutes later the disciples turned to each other and asked, “what is this that he says to us?”⁷ And shortly after that they all said, “Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.”⁸ To which Jesus replied, “Do you now believe?”⁹ And I think he said it sarcastically. And I think he sighed heavily. But then he said calmly: “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.”¹⁰ And they stopped questioning him.

We have a lot of questions, too. We want answers; we want direction; we want help; we want relief; we want signs. Although God does give us answers and direction and help and relief and numerous signs along the way, the big answer—the thing we must rest in completely—is his repeated message of Don’t worry; trust me. In those three chapters as Jesus is trying to answer all their questions, he uses the word “believe” ten times.

The Amplified Bible translates the word “believe” this way: “believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God.”³ The crowds that followed Jesus around “said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’”¹¹

There are many things that God wants us to do. He planned them all out before we were born! As we live our lives, as we work our jobs, as we go through trials, as we seek to do his will, it is natural that we will have questions. Jesus told his disciples, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”¹² But he also said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated).”³ (Amplified Bible)

After this long discussion Jesus had with his disciples, he “lifted up his eyes to heaven.”¹³ I wonder if he was giving God an eye roll!  But, of course, he then prayed for his friends: Father, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”¹⁴

God loves us. Ask him anything. But then, “believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on”³ him.  Remember that he said these things to us that we would have peace.

¹John 13:36   ²John 13:37   ³John 14:1   ⁴John 14:5   ⁵John 14:8   ⁶John 14:22   ⁷John 16:17   ⁸John 16:30   ⁹John 16:31   ¹⁰John 16:33   ¹¹John 6:28-29   ¹²John 14:14   ¹³John 17:1   ¹⁴John 17:26