Why Does Following God Feel So Heavy Sometimes?
Because it is heavy. And the weight is not a sign that you're doing it wrong. It's a sign that what you're carrying matters. Jesus felt the weight of His assignment too, and He followed God's instructions all the way through it anyway. That is what makes the resurrection as powerful as it is.
There are seasons in your walk with God where obedience doesn't feel light or joyful or easy. It feels heavy. It feels costly. It feels like you are giving something up, pressing through something hard, or carrying something that no one around you fully understands. And in those moments the question that creeps in is this. If I'm really in God's will, why does it feel like this?
The answer is not that you've missed God. The answer is that purpose has always come with weight. And Jesus shows us exactly what it looks like to carry it all the way through.
Why Did Jesus Have to Die During the Passover?
This is one of the most important questions in all of Scripture and most of us have never stopped to really sit in it. Jesus didn't die during the Passover by coincidence. He died during the Passover because God had been setting it up for generations.
Go back to Exodus 12. God is giving Moses instructions for the final plague, the death of the firstborn, and He tells the children of Israel exactly what to do. Exodus 12:5 (NKJV) says, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year." Verse 7 says, "And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it." And then verse 13 (NKJV) says, "Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."
When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
God told them to do this every year, every generation, so that no one would ever forget. He was orchestrating something. He was setting up a moment generations in the future when the world would need to understand exactly what the blood of a lamb without blemish could do. And when Jesus came, He was that lamb. No blemish. No broken bones. John 19:36 (NKJV) says, "For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.'"
The instructions God gave in Exodus were not just for that night in Egypt. They were a preview of what He was orchestrating centuries later on a cross outside Jerusalem. Every detail mattered. Every instruction was intentional. God is that meticulous about what He is building through you too.
What Does It Mean That Jesus Fulfilled Over 400 Prophecies?
Theologians estimate that Jesus fulfilled somewhere between 400 and 600 prophecies with His life, His ministry, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Four hundred. Some say more.
Think about what that actually means. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. The Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. They would cast lots for His clothing. Not one of His bones would be broken. He would cry out, into Your hands I commit My spirit. He would rise from the dead.
Every single one fulfilled. Statistically, for a human being to orchestrate the fulfillment of that many specific prophecies is not just unlikely. It is impossible. Which means He had to be who He said He was. He had to be the Son of God. He had to be deity. There is no other explanation.
And here is what I love about how He did it. He didn't white-knuckle His way through it alone. He sought His Father constantly. Before miracles, He prayed. After miracles, He withdrew and prayed. In the garden, sweating blood, He prayed. He understood that following God's instructions with precision required staying in constant communion with the One giving the instructions. He never tried to fulfill His purpose on His own strength.
What Does This Mean for the Weight You're Carrying?
Isaiah 46:10 (NKJV) says, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.'" God declared the end from the beginning. He was orchestrating the Passover in Exodus because He already knew what was coming in Jerusalem. He has been orchestrating things in your life long before you showed up to the moment you're in right now.
The weight you feel is real. Jesus felt it too. Luke 22:44 (NKJV) says His sweat became like great drops of blood in the garden. He asked three times if the cup could pass from Him. And three times He surrendered and said, not My will but Yours. He accepted the weight. He followed the instructions. And three days later, the resurrection proved that every ounce of weight was worth it.
Death did not win. The enemy did not win. Everything God said would happen happened exactly the way He said it would. And because Jesus followed God's instructions all the way through, you and I have access to eternal life. We are the reason He accepted the cup.
Shed any misconception that the weight of your purpose means you've missed God. Shed the belief that easy equals obedience. Shed the isolation of trying to carry your purpose without seeking your Father the way Jesus sought His. And shed the fear that the heavy season you're in doesn't have a resurrection on the other side of it.
It does. God declared the end from the beginning. He already knows how this turns out.
Take this to the Word yourself. Exodus 12:1-14, John 19:30-36, Luke 22:39-44, Isaiah 46:10.
What This Means for You
What is one area of your purpose where God is asking you to follow His instructions all the way through, even though it feels heavy right now?
This is the final post in The Awesome 3 series. Here's the full thread from the beginning.
Post 5: Why Does Following God Feel So Heavy Sometimes?
I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, "The Awesome 3," is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.
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