THE DARKEST HOUR | Mattis Thielmann

All your effort, all your training, all you dreamed of, all you hoped for, all you imagined—it didn’t work. And after nothing is left - it is time to walk away. That is how the disciples and followers of Jesus must have felt. They trusted Him, they believed in Him, they were sure that He would get them out of the hands of their suppressor. But nothing. He died. A terrible and horrible death but, in the end, He was dead and with Him every hope and every dream. 

How often do I feel like Jesus’ followers? Living the darkest hours in my life, where it stopped making sense, where I tried and it didn’t work. Imagine in that moment, where life took all from you, all that’s left to do is walk away.

What else can you do? Why should you stay? Imagine that on your way out, on your escape path, a person came to walk with you. Imagine that person showing you that not all hope is gone, that there is still light in the darkness, that not everything is falling apart. 

I know—it sounds like the plot of a B-grade Hollywood movie, but it actually happened.  After Jesus died, two of His followers left Jerusalem. They felt like all they could do was move on and leave it all behind them. But all of a sudden, a man walks with them. They didn’t know who He was or where He came from. The man asked them how they were doing. After they explained their pain and suffering, He explained the Bible from beginning to end and taught them all the meanings of the word of God. The man used the words of prophets from hundreds of years ago, words spoken by God and written down by people, words explaining why Jesus had to die.

After seven miles of walking and listening, the day was coming to an end. They urged the stranger to have supper with them. And then finally, sitting together at the table, thanking God for the food, they realised who was walking with them this whole day. It was Jesus Himself. Alive and not dead. The grave was empty. He was truly alive!

If I could choose one moment in the Bible to live through, this would be it. Hearing what Jesus preached, how He explained God’s word, how He walked with them from a point of despair to restored hope. 

When you trash your Bible, you are on a similar walk like the two men in our story. And Jesus is indeed walking with you even if you can’t see Him. When we start to read the Bible, we might just be like those two men. We are at a point where life doesn’t make sense anymore and we feel like all hope is gone. But just as we can see in Luke  23 and 24, the death and the resurrection of Jesus completely changed everything. It has the power to turn your life, your fears, your dreams, your hopes or the lack of completely around.

Jesus wants to walk with you, He wants to teach you and show you that there is always hope and that there is always light. He died on a cross and rose after three days from the darkness of the grave. He can also walk you out of your darkest hours.