Whychus Creek Overlook, Sisters, OR
John 16:33 NIV
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
“Being sold down the river,” is a term coined during a dark time in American history, and literally refers to the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The deeper south cotton plantations were known to be a harsher, more brutal level of hard labor for slaves. Whereas, the northern slave states were often referred to as slave “growing” states. So, when brought to auction, the farther south, or farther “down river,” the worse the sentence so much so that there were reported cases of suicides and suicide attempts when slaves learned of their fate down river. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a gut-wrenching story called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although fictional, the story was an accurate depiction of a male slave from Kentucky being torn from his family and sold from bad, to worse, to worst. The story culminates with his owner ordering the overseers to beat Uncle Tom to death. What impacts me the most in the story isn’t the animalistic brutality, but the unwavering faith of Tom. Each time he was striped from home and family to be sent farther and farther south, his faith never faulters. I am amazed by such faith.
Today, “being sold down the river,” means an act of deep betrayal. Often, people accepting Jesus as their savior think that all their problems will be solved like wishes from a genie in a bottle. So, when troubles come, they feel betrayed by Jesus, but that is so far from reality! Jesus in fact told us that we were going to have troubles, pain, and suffering in this earthly world. Sometimes it just plain feels unfair, brutal, and harsh. But even so, how do we respond to those troubles? Are we angry, bitter, hostile, and toxic? Or do we allow the peace that passes all understanding to wash over us because we know this world is not our home. Jesus confirmed that He has overcome the earthly world and these trials, albeit difficult and painful, are but a blink of an eye compared to the eternal Glory that waits for us with Him. Uncle Tom knew that, and so whatever earthly man did to him, he withstood with supernatural peace and without poisonous hate and animosity, because he bravely never took his eyes off Jesus.
