What shall I say is a question that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, asked at one point in His earthly ministry. No doubt, the situation must have been critical for such a question to come out of the mouth of God. You know of course that Jesus is God. He said it Himself, that He and the Father are one. You discover it was at the foot of the cross on which he bore your sin, my sin, and the sin of the whole world. So, yes, he was in a critical situation and had a right to ask such a question
We are jumping the gun slightly here, bypassing heroes like Joseph and Abraham and going directly to Jesus. We had planned to leave Jesus to the last since He is our ultimate example. But we could not resist, especially as the passage ends with a wonderful prayer. “Father, glorify your name.” Wow! Our example is in a critical situation. We have established that. Otherwise, he would never have asked the question “What shall I say?”
Indeed, the conversation started with a declaration of how troubled His soul was. Yet He ends the conversation with a prayer that should always be on our lips. Now, it is evident that not all of us can bring ourselves to glorify God at all times. And most definitely not at such a critical time. But that is what we must aim for, even when our souls are troubled.
What Shall I Say Is A Heart Cry
Believers must always strive to be like Jesus, our big Brother. He alone has gone on ahead to prepare a place for us in heaven. Unless we identify with Him, even in the problems, we may miss out on His preparations. And perhaps miss heaven completely if we fail to consider all negative situations as positive problems.
When Jesus asked “What shall I say?” he was not speaking to anyone. He was God and did not need advice from anyone. Rather, he was having an internal discussion, considering his best course of action. It is a step all believers must learn to take. Consider within yourself what actions to take before you let anyone into your pain. Ask yourself, “In this affliction, what shall I do.”
Consider who should know about it how much of it may become too much information and so on. Conclude before you share. Otherwise, what you share in the heat of the moment might come back to bite you. Some so-called counselors want you to share your troubles as soon as there is trouble. Ignore them because you are too vulnerable since your pain is still raw. Like Jesus, our savior, take counsel with your heart first.
After all, if you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart. The Holy Spirit should be your first stop since He is the great Counselor. Jesus knew all of that and so made a heart cry. He asked the Holy Spirit in His heart “What shall I say?” And He provided the answer also by Himself.
When Your Soul Is Troubled
Remember that our hearts and souls are not as troubled as they would have been without Jesus. His soul was troubled when He carried your sin and my sin to the cross. He was thus able to tell His followers, including you and me, to not let our hearts be troubled. That would be like double jeopardy. His soul was already troubled so why should ours be troubled as well?
But because we live in a fallen world, we do suffer afflictions from time to time. Our hearts are troubled from time to time. And that is when we most need to be like Jesus. We need to ask our hearts, “What shall I say?” We can either be like Peter who tried to chase Jesus away from him. And why did Peter take that position? He was too much of a sinner, he reckoned. But it was for sinners that Jesus came to earth, so Jesus refused to depart from him.
Or, we can answer like Jesus and recognize that a troubled soul is part of the Christian journey. Did the bible not say so? In 2 Timothy 3.12, we read, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And then, we can conclude with “Father, glorify your name” just like Jesus did.
So the next time you are in trouble, ask yourself “What shall I say?” I pray that God will give you the grace to conclude it all by giving glory to God.
Maranatha!
