“The LORD God helps me… therefore I have set my face like flint, 

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”–Isaiah 50:7 

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, 

Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.”–Luke 9:51

Ten years ago, a man named Don Wright died. He had been a long-time member of the congregation I served. Don’s wife Shirley and he had joined shortly before I arrived and while faithful in worship attendance, they were not otherwise involved in any discernible way. Just a few months before her death, a passing that was unexpected, Shirley had told Don that it was time they became more active in the church. A few months after her death, he was elected to serve as a deacon for the first time and began that work at age 80.  He served exceptionally well. 

During his last year of life, Don suffered a stroke and faced other health challenges, too.  In what turned out to be our final time together, we visited one day in his retirement community. He was confined to bed by that point and as I sat by his side, Don spoke candidly about his declining health and how there wasn’t anything else medically that could be done.  What followed became one of those blessings I experienced many, many times as a pastor  

“When I think about my wife and family and the heavenly experience that awaits,” Don said, “I have no fear of dying.”  He told of how he was looking forward to a reunion with an older  brother who had died at age 21 in a motorcycle accident.  Don had been five years old at the time. I then asked Don how he felt about the diagnosis. He thought for a second and then replied, “I figure that either way it goes, I’ll be one happy camper.” Such testimony inspired me then and still, revealing an abiding trust in God. The two Bible verses above do the same. 

The one from Luke marks a pivot point in his gospel as everything that follows will lead toward the events of Jesus’ final week on earth. It’s a long narrative, filling ten chapters before he arrives in Jerusalem for that moment Christians remember as Palm Sunday. It is a circuitous route, too, for even though we aren’t told where Jesus was located on the day Luke was recalling, the story that follows suggests he could have been as close as 50 miles from his destination. Jesus could have easily covered that distance in a few days.

Still, Luke’s comment was not a throw-away comment about a directional shift, but instead described Jesus’ resolve. He “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” despite knowing it would be the place he would die. To “set one’s face” is a Jewish idiom we also heard from the prophet Isaiah: “I have set my face like flint.”  For Jesus, trouble begins immediately as a Samaritan village rejects him because he is focused on Jerusalem. Isaiah’s words come when he is facing hardship, too, and even though he does not know what is ahead, the prophet declares “I shall not be put to shame.” Thus, both verses reveal a faithful trust in God.

Certainly, I do not know what you are facing today. There are all kinds of moments when the unknown of what is ahead could make us stop in our tracks: a challenging diagnosis or a long-delayed conversation, an unexpected death or signing the divorce decree. In such moments and countless more we can well wonder if we have the strength required to face the day or the one after that. While such reactions are quite understandable, two Biblical authors  point us to a source of strength that is always available. Trusting in God might not always make us “happy campers,” but it can surely give us the strength we need to face whatever comes next. 

Ever-faithful Companion, you see all that is ahead and have promised never to leave us. Help us to trust in that care, especially when the way forward is so unclear to us.  Amen.