You Don’t Got This

My apology to all my English teachers. I used to get A’s.
 
Whenever we want to encourage people to rise to the occasion, to cheer them on to victory and instill in them the confidence and courage to overcome, we say something like, “You’ve got this!” Maybe that works for hitting clutch free throws or surviving a job interview. Maybe.

In real life, under real adversity, as a real person, we’re going to run into those battles to win and mountains to climb that are just too ferocious, just too big to conquer. No amount of catchy slogans and clever memes can replace the foundational facts of all human enlightenment: there is a God, and you are not Him. It’s not all about you, and you’re not all that. Maybe you’ve been able to make it through a lot of things before. Maybe you really are tough and determined.

But this time it’s different. This is bigger than you. It takes more than you have to give. You can’t win them all. You don’t got this.

[Stuff] happens. You can’t help it. They’re asking too much. You need to leave. The ER. The OR. Stage Four. It’s over. She’s gone. 

Now you find yourself standing in the empty, staring in the darkness, frozen at the thought of the next step, or any step, and realizing that your legs are gone anyway, and they took your heart with them. It’s too dark. It’s too much empty.

You don’t got this. And for every time you thought you believed, now comes the desperate plea: Lord, forgive me my unbelief! I don’t got this!

In that moment of opaque clarity comes the Epiphany: Jesus is here. Nobody else is, but Jesus is right here. He came for you. He came to you. The people walking in darkness and living in darkness are thriving over those paralyzed and dying in the darkness. But now all of them, and you, have seen a great Light, and that Light is Life!

I’ll bet you didn’t see that coming! He has opened your eyes, resuscitated your heart and repaired your legs as He prepares you for His Great Next. You see, now, that HE’S got this! He always did. But you just couldn’t see it. Until now.

You believe in Him and you believe Him, you love Him and you follow Him, even though now, for a little while, you hit a wall. You felt the pain and you tasted the loss. These have come to prove your faith genuine: not proving it to God; proving it to yourself! The hurt was like spikes driven through you and the loss tasted like beer gone bad. And where have you heard that before? Where have you seen it before?

The Guy on the Cross. The One who came to live your life and die your death so that you could live His life and, well, never really die, even if you die a little. He took all of you so you get all of Him. Your sins are His now, and His grace and righteousness are all yours. You couldn’t help it, so He helped it, and set you free. You couldn’t do it all, so He did it all, to perfection, and gifted the trophy to you. He was in the ER and the OR, performing miracles and medicine that cannot come from a diploma or a license. Stage Four is now Stage Forever where cancer cannot come. And Mom knows me again!

Everything lost has been replaced. Every one lost has been found. So stay with Him. Let Him do and be and save.

Pitiable people want to know why. Why did He let this happen? Why did He do this? It’s not nice. No, it isn’t. And ever since we let sin in, the world isn’t either.

There’s only one way forward, one way through, one way out. And the Way has a Name. He is love. Tough love at times. But love, nevertheless. Unconditional. Eternal.

You can’t get this until you let it go. He’s got this. He never gives you more than He can handle. That’s what He came for. That’s who He came for.

Got it?