Secrets of the Untroubled Heart


Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also me . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.--John 14: 1, 18, 27.

Hearts that are afraid are troubled hearts.

We are living in troubled times. The world is filled with tensions and fears. In the midst of the tensions, fears and anxieties, how good it is to hear the Master's quiet, gentle voice, saying, "Let not your hearts be troubled.” How reassuring to hear Him say, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.”

I am sure all of us who have experienced the comforting captainship of Christ in life's dark hours, will want to keep very close to Him in these days of dark forebodings. We must surely feel impelled to seek the shelter and comfort of his presence by the very poignancy of the present situation in the world.

There is nothing more common in the world than troubled hearts. And never were there so many troubled hearts as now.

Troubles, sorrows and disappointments come to all of us, soon or late. When such experiences come, our chief source of comfort, and of strength for meeting them, lies in those words, “Believe in God and also in me”--the words Jesus spoke to His disciples to quiet their fears and relieve their troubled hearts. Those who suppose that this trying life can be successfully and happily lived without the comfort and strength that lie in those words, should consider the despair of the men and women who pursue the course of unbelief, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2: 12).

In the presence of human grief, atheism stands dumb and speechless; rationalism with its accustomed assertiveness loses its voice and becomes as silent as the grave--it has not a single glimmer of hope to give. Here, all human philosophy breaks down. But we are not left to be crushed by the sense of hopelessness and despair; we can direct our troubled hearts and perplexed minds to the words of the Great Teacher, “Believe in God, believe also in me,” and this we can do with the utmost assurance that we’ll find relief and comfort.

Belief in God, trust in His love, the presence and companionship of Christ--therein is the secret of the untroubled heart.