Surviving the Worst Day of Your Life
Rick Warren’s 27 year old son committed suicide Friday April 5, 2013 after struggling with depression for many years; despite the care of the best physicians, treatment with the most effective medicines, and the earnest prayers or his family and church. Pastor Warren had called his brother-in-law, Saddleback’s Teaching Pastor, earlier in the week and asked him to preach for the services April 6 & 7 because of an illness, and mentioned he was preparing a sermon series on “Dealing With Tough Times” based on this short devotion by Steve Biddison. The Holy Spirit was already preparing Pastor Warren for what would be the worst day of his life.
He returned to the pulpit Sat. July 27 to begin his sermon series on "How To Get Through What You're Going Through."
Possibly by J.C. Ryle and quoted by Rick Warren and others
The deepest level of worship is praising God through the pain, thanking God through the trials, trusting Him when we’re tempted to lose hope, and loving Him, even when (I feel) He is distant.
At my lowest, God is my hope.
At my darkest, God is my light.
At my weakest, God is my strength.
At my saddest, God is my comforter.
Adapted from How To Survive the Worst Day of Your Life
John 18:1-19:30
All His life, Jesus knew how it would end. He knew why He had come to earth and He knew the pain, both physically and spiritually, that He would face during the final hours of His life. He would be betrayed by a friend, arrested under false accusations, beaten within moments of death, humiliated in front of the world, and die a terrible death. It was predestined to be the worst day of His life. (Acts 2:23, 1 Peter 1:18-20)
We all will face the worst day in our lives sometime (or several times). It might be the loss of someone or something. It might be the news of a terminal illness, or any number of events where life smacks us in the face with devastating news. Those times are never easy to handle, but the good news is that Jesus sets the example of what we should do during those worst days of our lives in order to survive it.
1. He faced it head on.
When the soldiers came to arrest Him, Jesus admitted right away that He was the one they were looking for. He didn’t run from it or try to hide. He faced it straight on. When those worst times hit us, it never does any good to try to live in denial of what is happening. At best, it will just prolong the agony. Do what Jesus did. Face it. It is there. We cannot deny it, ignore it, or bargain it away.
2. Take control of the situation.
When the soldiers began to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and lopped off the ear of one of the soldiers. At that moment, a free for all could have broken out resulting in many deaths. But Jesus took control of the situation, turned Himself in, and miraculously put the ear back on the soldier. When we face the worst day of our life, either we should take control of the situation ourselves, as best we can, or in some cases, designate someone else to do it.
If your worst day involves a death of a family member, then it would be appropriate to designate someone else to answer the door, take phone calls and e-mails for you. They can relay messages to you without you having to rehash everything over and over, and to others with group e-mails or texts.
3. Lean on Jesus.
In the hours immediately following His arrest, all of Jesus’ disciples fled. Even Peter openly denied Him. Jesus no long had any friends around Him to comfort Him. He had no one but Himself.
Usually when we are facing the worst day of our life, we do have friends and family to rely on. But we need to lean on Jesus as He alone can empathize with us fully.
4. Endure it.
We are told in Hebrews 12:2 that because He knew the end of the story, the joy that awaited Him, Jesus endured the worst day of His life. If that worst day involves a great loss, then rest in the fact that one day it will be over. The pain from the loss will diminish. Life will continue. It might seem like the end of your world at the moment, but if you push through it, one day you’ll have the capacity to smile again.
5. Finish it.
The worst day of Jesus’ life ended in His death. His terrible day finally came to an end. There is a bit of comfort in the knowledge that when we face those worst days, there is an end. It may be in death or it may be something less permanent. But it does end. The intensity of the feelings of grief and loss will not last forever.
If that day culminates in our death we have the joy of Heaven to look forward to. Stay faithful and endure the pain until we see Jesus face to face.
6. Learn from it and use it.
Assuming our worst day does not end with us stepping through the gates of Heaven (which would automatically make it our best day), then God wants us to use the pain we felt to help others as they go through similar circumstances.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us that God comforts us so that we can comfort others. Once we have worked through our grief (which may take years), we need to take what we learned from the process to comfort and counsel others.
Personal Application
1. Think or write briefly about the worst day of your life. Were you able to face it and take control of the situation as much as possible? Did you lean on Jesus? How were you strengthened? How were you comforted?
2. What wounds remain from that day? Be honest; how are the wounds disabling you now?
3. Are there triggers that lead you to re-live that terrible day over again? How has Satan tried to keep you in bondage to those memories?
3. What did you learn from the event? That day? That week? In life?
4. To your knowledge, did God ultimately use that event for good? For whom and it what way?
5. Looking back at what you experienced, what ways do you think that you might be able to use what you went through to help someone else going through something similar.
6. Are you able to say “May God be glorified through that day and my pain?”
John 9:3 “…this happened so that the work of God might be displayed…”
Job 1:21b “May the name of the Lord be praised.”
Romans 11:36 “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!"
What to say to someone on the worst day of their life
1. Nothing; just be there.
2. “Can we pray together?”
3. “What can I do?”
What NOT to say to someone on the worst day of their life
1. “It will be alright.”
Unless you are God, you don’t know that.
2. “I know how you feel”, usually followed by your own story.
No you don’t, and they are not interested in your story right now.
3. “Everything works in a pattern for good.”
They probably know Romans 8:28, but right now the pain to too great to affirm that truth. And the “good” may not be in this life, but will assuredly be in the next "for those called according to His purpose".
4. And the WORST thing to say - "If you/they only had enough faith...prayed harder...confessed the sin, they would have been healed."
See #1. And repent of your stunning arrogance and cruelty.
Sir Philip Sidney Pamela's Prayer (Arcadia III.6)
All-seeing Light, and Eternal Life of all things, look upon my misery with Thine eye of mercy, and let Thine infinite power vouchsafe to limit out some portion of deliverance unto me, as unto Thee shall seem most convenient. But yet, O my God, I yield unto Thy will, and joyfully embrace what sorrow Thou wilt have me suffer. Only thus much let me crave of Thee (let my craving, O Lord, be accepted of Thee, since even that proceeds from Thee)—let me crave even by the noblest title, which in my greatest affliction I may give myself, that I am Thy creature, and by Thy goodness (which is Thyself), that Thou wilt suffer some beam of Thy Majesty so to shine into my mind, that it may still depend confidently on Thee.
John Baillie on Galatians 6:1-5
Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing heart to bear the burdens of my brothers. Give me a believing heart to cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord.
William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour
Sit near this fire of God’s love in Christ; warm thy heart with meditation on spiritual promises while thou art under bodily pressures, and thou shalt find, through God’s blessing thy heart in some comfortable tune to praise God in the saddest and most rainy day that can befall thee in all thy life.
C.H. Spurgeon rented Surrey Garden Music Hall October 19, 1856 to preach to 12,000 people inside, with another 10,000 standing outside the building. Someone inside falsely shouted “Fire” creating a panic to escape. Spurgeon witnessed the pandemonium in which 7 were killed and 28 seriously injured. He was unsure he would ever preach again, but returned to his pulpit at Metropolitan Tabernacle Independent Reformed Baptist church 2 weeks later saying “I have gone to the very bottoms of the mountains, as some of you know, in a night that never can be erased from my memory…but, as far as my witness goes, I can say that the Lord is able to save unto the uttermost and in the last extremity, and He has been a good God to me.”
F.B. Meyer Our Daily Walk, May 8
Remember it is the Father to whom our prayer is addressed. He made us, and knows just what we can stand; He loves us, and His tender succour is always by our side. He draws near, saying, "I am with you in this dark valley, and am able to make you stand; I would not have brought you here had I not counted the cost. I am able to be a very present help in this time of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) I have carried others through this ordeal, and I can carry you; only keep near my side; look away from the tempter to my face; cease to trust yourself and depend absolutely upon Me, and I, who brought you to this testing-place, will lead you out."
Pastor Jerrid Wilson, who committed suicide 9-9-2019
Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure suicidal thoughts.
Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure depression.
Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure PTSD.
Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure anxiety.
But that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t offer us companionship and comfort.
He ALWAYS does that.