God does all things right. There’s never a time he gets it wrong. There’s never a detail he overlooks. There’s never a promise left unfulfilled.

He can be fully trusted to get this right. Yes, I’m talking about your personal “this”. This thing that still isn’t fixed in your life. This thing that still hurts and still doesn’t make sense. This thing that feels so unimaginably cruel and unfair.

GOD CAN BE TRUSTED TO GET THIS RIGHT.

There will come a time in each of our lives when absolutely nothing else in our entire existence will matter other than our faith in Jesus. Everything else will be gone and over, and the one thing that remains is an eternal destination solely based on our relationship with Jesus. Either he knows us, or he doesn’t. Either we surrendered to him, or we didn’t. Either we call on his name, or we don’t.

For every soul that sought Jesus, we have the promise of experiencing God’s divine plan unfold and coming to see everything made right. Yes, everything. For the one who chooses Jesus, this life is the worst we will ever experience. For the one who chooses something other than Jesus or simply makes no choice at all, this life is the best they will ever experience.

Every challenge, every trial, every difficulty ever faced in this life has come upon us with the permission of God. Yes, it first had to pass through the hands of God to touch our lives. He may not have orchestrated it, but he allowed it. He allows these things because he can use these things. Difficult times in our lives produce eternal good. It’s on our knees we find a faithful God who will always rescue us.

We all want the mountain top experiences in life, but if you’ve ever been on top of a mountain, you know absolutely nothing grows there. It’s desolate with nothing but hard rock. And that’s why God allows us to have those mountain top, monumental moments in life, but he doesn’t let us just stay there. We don’t grow there. Where we grow is in the valley.

In the valley is where the mountains look overwhelming sometimes. In the valley is where we can feel lost or stuck. In the valley is where we come to our low points.

But my sister, don’t miss the fact that in the valley is where growth happens. Trees, grass and flowers grow in the valley, not on the mountain top. And God knows that’s where we grow too. So, he allows valleys where we’re surrounded by the shadow of death. Not to destroy us, but grow us.

In our study of Revelation, we last left off with those souls who haven’t surrendered to Jesus facing the great Tribulation. The believers are rescued from all the terror that will come on this Earth. We’re already in Heaven, gathered around the throne. We’ve been saved from the crushing and chaos of the Tribulation time to come. But, this time of tribulation is an opportunity for those who haven’t believed before to come to Jesus now. It’s their deep dark valley in the shadow of death where they can grow and turn to God.

And sooooo many will. Scripture says they will be a vast crowd, too many to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language. Although they didn’t trust in Jesus before the rapture, they come to Jesus in the terrible times of Tribulation. You see, here’s the truth – they waited for life to get worse before calling out to Jesus in faith. And life, got worse … so much worse.

If we wait to call out to Jesus, there’s so much worse coming our way. The unimaginable times of Tribulation are promised. They’re coming. It’s real. You think our world today is bad … oh mercy, what is to come is unspeakable. For the ones who refuse Jesus, it only gets worse. And the reason it gets worse is because God knows tribulation brings us to him. That’s the whole point.

Can you see how your life’s hardships and struggles have brought you to God? Can you see how your rock bottom was the solid place on which God began to rebuild you? Can you see how the allowed tribulation in your life was used for a great purpose by God? That’s what God does. He does everything he has to in order to bring us to him. He allows the crushing to separate us and save us.

Our lives are always under the watchful and gracious hand of our Good Shepherd, Jesus. The one who leads us, guides us, provides for us and protects us. His plans for us are good. Hardship is only allowed to bring us back to his side, seeking his hand.

For the unbeliever, that’s precisely what the coming Tribulation is. It’s sole purpose is to bring creation back to him. That’s what hardship does – it brings us back to God. He would prefer we come back to him without allowing things to get that bad, but if we don’t, God will allow the worst of the worst to try and reach us.

Now, look at this beautiful vision of what is to come for every believer in Jesus. Revelation 7: 15-17:

“They stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. They will never be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

This is the vision of those who die in the great Tribulation to come who finally turn to Jesus. They are finally joining the believers who were snatched up in the rapture at the throne in paradise now. The ones who believed before are already in Heaven experiencing the good part, while the rest of the world endures the Tribulation. Now, after turning to Jesus in the extreme hardship to come, they get to be with us. They had to endure the unimaginable because they didn’t choose Jesus first, but the Tribulation brought them to faith, as hard times are known to do.

So imagine the vast contrast for them. These are people who have just endured an earth that has been stripped of all peace. They were living in times where there was absolutely no hope and no security. They were surrounded by destruction and chaos. They witnessed the sky falling, the sun turning dark and the moon turning red. They were overcome with famine and disease and humans becoming the absolute worst you can imagine. And now, having missed their first chance at coming to Jesus but finally placing their faith in him in the last round, they’ve died in the Tribulation, and now they’re experiencing an eternity of always having enough, of never being in need or want or pain again. Imagine the difference. Imagine the relief.

They’re finally to the good part, but they had to go through so much unnecessary tribulation to get there. Jesus wants to save us from that now. He promises the good part without the possible worst part.

Here in eternity, God will wipe every tear from our eye. Everything that didn’t make sense to us will be answered. Everything that hurt will be healed. Everything that was taken from us in this life will be given to us in an overflowing abundance that never runs out.

I want you to just imagine that promised scene for a moment. Imagine standing before God with tears running down your cheeks because you’ve experienced pain, because you’ve gone through tremendous loss, because you’ve endured hardships. Those tears you’ve been crying, yes here’s what will happen to them. Your loving, caring, all-powerful God reaches out. Imagine this moment in your promised future – God reaches out to wipe away those tears forever. He himself will wipe your tears. He will not only dry them, but he will wipe them away forever. Never again will you hurt. Never again will you question. Never again will you long for something different.

Psalm 56;8, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

One of my favorite books is called “The Shack”. It was later made into a movie. There’s a scene where the Holy Spirit, who is represented by a beautiful gentle woman, is in a garden pouring out the tears collected in a bottle. Our tears. My tears. Your tears. As the Holy Spirit pours out those collected tears, beautiful flowering trees begin to grow. I’ll never forget that scene.

Every single tear has been collected. And every single tear will be forever wiped away.

Anxiety, wiped away. Depression, wiped away. Fear, wiped away. Sickness, wiped away. Separation, wiped away. Heartache, wiped away.

If you have chosen to believe in Jesus, this life is the worst you will ever experience. If you have not chosen Jesus, there is so much worse to come, but it’s only to ultimately save you.

Heaven is for real. Jesus saves. He saves you from your sin, and he saves you from the coming Tribulation. He saves those who finally come to believe in him in the Tribulation. The Tribulation is optional and we’re not there yet. God is still giving us time to come to him and tell others about him.

There is salvation in tribulation, literally. Tribulation with a little “t”, meaning our current hardships and struggles which lead us to reaching out to God – but also Tribulation with a capital “T”, meaning the trouble coming for those not in relationship with Jesus. Many will be saved during that Tribulation – but you don’t have to wait until then. You can be saved, literally SAVED by Jesus, and go straight to the good part!

That’s my choice – I’m going straight to the good part. I’m choosing Jesus now....

1931 Straight To the Good Part