The Worst Thing Is Never the Last Thing

Today is Good Friday.

Every year, I catch on those words. Because if we are honest, there was nothing good about that day while it was happening.

It was brutal. It was heartbreaking. It was marked by loss, betrayal, suffering, and silence.

It looked like the end.

That is part of why Good Friday speaks so deeply to real life. Because most of us know what it is like to live through something that feels like the end. We know what it is like to sit in grief, to carry disappointment, to walk through pain that makes everything feel quiet and distant.

We all want Easter Sunday. We want resurrection. We want joy restored. We want healing, redemption, and new life.

But resurrection does not come without first passing through death.

That is what makes Good Friday so powerful. It reminds us that before the empty tomb, there was a cross. Before the victory, there was suffering. Before resurrection, there was surrender.

One of the most moving parts of the story is that Jesus Himself cried out from the cross, “

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

That is such a painfully human cry.

Because we know that feeling. Maybe not in those exact words, but in grief, heartbreak, disappointment, and the kind of pain that makes heaven feel silent.

Jesus felt that.

That matters because it means we do not worship a Savior who stands far off from suffering. We worship One who stepped fully into it. He knows sorrow. He knows anguish. He knows what it is to hurt.

So when we walk through our own Good Friday seasons, we are not alone.

And there are Good Friday seasons in life. Seasons where something has to die.

Sometimes it is pride.

Sometimes it is control.

Sometimes it is the future we thought we would have.

Sometimes it is the version of ourselves we have outgrown.

Sometimes it is the life we planned, but never got to live.

When you are in that kind of season, it does not feel holy. It feels painful. It feels confusing. It feels like everything is being stripped away.

But Good Friday reminds us of something deep and steady.

Just because it feels like the end does not mean God is finished.

Just because it is dark does not mean He is absent.

Just because something is dying does not mean resurrection is not coming.

What looked like defeat was not defeat.

What looked like death was making way for life.

That is the hope of Good Friday.

It does not deny the pain. It does not rush past the suffering. It does not pretend the cross was anything less than devastating.

But it does remind us that God is still working, even in the silence. Even in the grief. Even in the places where all we can see is loss.

So if today feels heavy, if life feels buried, if you are walking through a chapter that does not look good at all, do not lose heart.

Friday is not the end of the story.

The grave does not get the final word.

Pain does not get the final word.

Death does not get the final word.

Jesus does.

And that is what makes Easter so powerful. It reminds us that the worst thing is never the last thing.

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Reflection Question:

What in your life feels like an ending right now, and how might God be meeting you there before resurrection comes?

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My Prayer:

Jesus,

Thank You for meeting us in suffering and not turning away from our pain. Thank You for stepping into grief, loss, and silence so we would never walk through them alone. When life feels heavy and hope feels far away, help us hold on to what is true. Remind us that You are still working, even when we cannot see it. Teach us to trust You in the waiting, to follow You in the surrender, and to believe that resurrection is still possible.

Amen.