A note of encouragement for anyone walking through dark days...

"For the joy set before him..."

If I’m being honest, our world continues to be permeated 24/7 by a level of stress and exhaustion that I didn’t know was humanly possible. Caring for a terminally ill child is one of the worst experiences life can throw at anyone. Stress and exhaustion continue to challenge our family in every way, but I often find comfort in Hebrews 12:2.

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:2

It’s the “for the joy set before him” part that strikes me.

I imagine Jesus sitting there, staring down the proverbial barrel into the agony of the coming days of the cross (days that he would very soon endure), envisioning the end game. He sweat blood and shed tears, but his thoughts focused in on a future joy, a “joy set before him,” too. He envisioned something so joyous that it gave him the resolve to stare down the most agonizing death imaginable and say, “Worth it.” I like to think that, in that moment, Jesus envisioned my family’s agony and said, “I’ll endure the cross to conquer that agony, grief, and brokenness for all eternity. Worth it. I’ll do it. Done.” I like to think that maybe he pictured my family sitting down and eating dinner together as a family again and our wonderful son laughing hysterically at some ridiculous dad joke as he used to so often do. I like to think that perhaps Jesus thought of a moment like that, smiled, and said resolutely, “Worth it.”

I like to think that ending suffering for sufferers like our family was part of that “joy set before him.” I’m confident that it was. I think all of us—more specifically, the death of the sin, sadness, and agony in all of us—is part of the “joy set before him.”

My wife and I have an all-consuming desire and longing to be able to do anything or give anything for our son to be restored and to be able to comfort our other kids. I think Jesus had that desire, too…a deep desire and longing to make kids whole.

I think that desire compelled him sit in the garden, ponder the cross to come, and say, “Worth it. I’ll do it.”

I think it compelled him to stand before Pilate, endure the scorn of those he came to save, and say, “Worth it. I’ll do it.”

I think it compelled him to hang on a cross and use his dying breaths to say, “Done.”

I was worth it to him. My son was worth it to him. You were worth it to him.

“Everything sad is going to come untrue, and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.” – Tim Keller.