April 4: John 16:32 — When His Overcoming Becomes Ours (Today's Reflection from My Utmost For His Highest)
John 16:32
“Indeed, the hour is coming when you will be scattered…”
There are seasons when the Lord gathers us close, and seasons when He allows us to be scattered. When Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, He was preparing them for a moment when everything familiar would be taken from them. He had been with them in the flesh, steadying their days with His nearness, but soon He would be removed from their sight, and they would be scattered in confusion. Their faith was about to falter, and they would have to learn what it meant to trust Him in a way they had never known before.
I am familiar with this scattering, and I am learning how to live the latter.
There came a time when the Lord allowed me to be led into a life that felt stripped down to bone and breath. Familiar supports fell away. Old identities dissolved. The warmth I once associated with God’s presence grew quiet. Chambers calls this “the emptiness of our lives,” the place where everything familiar falls away. In that quiet space, God began bringing things to the surface — memories of His past care, moments when He protected me, guided me, or held me steady even when I was barely paying attention. Only later did I realize what He was doing: laying the foundation of a deeper faith that rests on Him alone.
As that foundation settled in, I began to see myself more clearly. I saw how much of my earlier life had been shaped by self and had left Him on the sideline. As this deeper faith unfolds I know He must be the center of my life—not my self.
This deeper work unfolds differently in every life; some are drawn into it early, others slowly. But God knows how to lead each heart, and He takes His time.
Chambers adds something that has stayed with me:
“God is never in a hurry.”
He takes His time with our souls.
He gently shows us the truth — that so often we have been seeking His blessings more than seeking Him. This revelation is an invitation for a quiet turning of the heart from gifts to the Giver.
Faith begins to deepen in ways we could never manufacture on our own. It grows steady and sure — anchored in who God is. It becomes a faith that can whisper “all is well” even when the landscape looks empty, because it rests in Christ Himself.
Chambers understood why Jesus said this and ends his devotional by returning us to Jesus’ own words:
“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Scripture tells us this clearly: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:3–4).
When Christ becomes the center of our lives — our hearts, our bodies, our very inner world — His victory becomes the ground we stand on. He has overcome, and because He lives in us, His overcoming becomes ours. I did not see this until now, but it changes everything. Fear loses its grip, the world loses its power, and even death loses its sting. We rest in the One who has already conquered everything that could ever threaten us, and in that rest, a quiet, steady confidence begins to rise.
🌿 Breath Prayer
Inhale: You are with me in the quiet
Exhale: And all is well
~ Quil
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