April 4, 2026 Devo

As I’m writing this, it’s Good Friday. When I walked and prayed this morning, I spent a good bit of time thinking about what this day was like for Jesus. It was a cruel day. It was a painful day. It was a day of abandonment by His closest friends. It was a day of being beaten, whipped, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross. He was mocked, spat upon, and humiliated. It was a day of sorrow. A day of sadness. A day of darkness. Jesus prayed that if it was possible, He be spared this day. But He wasn’t spared. He suffered and hung on that cross until He died. Yeah, I know. Resurrection Day was coming. But He had to go through Good Friday to get there.
Hezekiah had his own Good Friday. He was deathly ill. He was dealing with the threat of the Assyrian army attacking Jerusalem. As king, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And now, instead of a word of hope that this was soon going to end, Isaiah tells him the exact opposite. “You’re going to die.” I thought it interesting that Hezekiah’s words were very similar to the thief hanging next to Jesus. “Remember me, Lord.” Things were going to get better for Hezekiah. He would have his own “resurrection.” But he had to go through Good Friday to get there.
Some of you are going through your own “Good Friday” time. You’re suffering. You’re hurting. You’ve been abandoned or rejected. You’ve had close friends or family just walk away. Some of you are experiencing what seems like the death of your dreams. Your greatest fears have become your reality. Your day today, like Jesus’ Good Friday, is a day of darkness, sadness, and sorrow. You’ve been praying that God would make it all go away. But He didn’t. So here you are.
I’m not going to minimize what you’re going through. Because some of you are suffering to a degree that God alone understands. But that’s my encouragement to you. God DOES understand. He is empathetic to your pain and the darkness of this day. He has been where you are and is right there with you as you go through yours. And just like the dark days of Jesus and Hezekiah gave way to a “resurrection day,” so will yours. I don’t know when. I don’t know how. But I do know that God will see you through to the other side. God will “remember you.” Sunday really is coming. But you’ll have to go through Good Friday to get there. That’s God’s Word for you today.