Jesus was about to face the cross. To prepare for what He knew He must do, He retreated to Gethsemane’s garden with His disciples. He had them sit at a certain place and then the three who were closest to Him went a little farther into the garden. As they walked, He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He then asked them to sit and pray as He went a little farther and prayed alone.
We can only imagine how disappointed Jesus was to repeatedly find His friends sleeping instead of praying as He’d asked. But maybe we can see how our Lord is disappointed by our failure to do as He asks. There’s much we could say about the faithlessness of the disciples and no doubt, much good could be gained from such a study. But instead, I want us to center our attention today on the faithfulness of Jesus.
One can’t help be impressed with our Lord’s faithfulness as He said to the Father, “Not what I will, but what you will.” But let’s notice that these words didn’t easily fall from Jesus’ lips. Before He could say these words with conviction, He had to spend time agonizing in prayer about an aspect of the Father’s will He’d rather have avoided.
Before Jesus could face Calvary, He had to pass through Gethsemane.
What Jesus said in verse 38 was what He was experiencing. He was willing to face the cross in His spirit, but in His flesh, there was resistance that was understandable. In His flesh, He didn’t want to face the cross (v. 34). But Jesus followed His own advice, and gave Himself to prayer so that the reluctance of His flesh might be overcome.
If we’re honestly seeking God’s will for our life, we’ll eventually find ourselves in the position Jesus was in: having to face an aspect of God’s will we’d rather avoid. At those times, we need to remember our Lord’s experience in Gethsemane. If we want to follow His example of faithfulness, we must learn how to say to God, “Your will be done,” even when it comes to aspects of His will we’d rather avoid.
There are two things to note about our Lord’s struggle in Gethsemane:
1. The cross was something Jesus didn’t want to face.
Our Lord’s request was to the point, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” The cross was an aspect of the Father’s will for His life that Jesus didn’t want to face.
Yet, because He recognized the cross as part of the Father’s will for Him, and because He wanted to do His Father’s will, Jesus went to the Father in prayer about it.
None of us is responsible for all the things that happen to us, but we are responsible for the way we react to them. When we find ourselves facing things we’d rather not as we seek to walk in God’s will, we need to react as Jesus did, by going to the Lord in prayer about it.
As we walk with God, there’ll be times we are called upon to face . . .
A. Trials we would rather not face.
Within God’s will, trials have purpose. Their purpose isn’t to make us bitter, but better; not to impair us, but to improve us.
As we go to the Lord in prayer concerning the trials we face as we walk in His will, He’ll be able to reveal lessons He wants to teach us through them and provide us with the grace we need to face them.
Poem by an unknown Confederate soldier
I asked God for strength that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for - but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men, most richly blessed.
Through prayer, God can reveal the benefits of trials we have to face, and enable us to say as did Jesus, “Your will be done.” Sometimes, as we walk in the will of God, there are trials we would just as soon avoid, and at other times, there are . . .
B. Tasks we would rather not face.
As we walk with God, there’ll be tasks we’d rather not face. When we, like Jesus, go to the Father in prayer, we’ll find as we struggle in prayer about that task, He can melt our heart and make us willing to obey. Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes me.
When Oliver Cromwell ruled England, the nation ran out of silver and couldn’t mint coins. He sent soldiers to London Cathedral to see if any silver was available. They reported that the only silver was in the statues of the saints, to which Cromwell replied, “Let’s melt down the saints and get them into circulation.”
Sometimes God must do that with us. That’s why we need to follow Jesus’ example when God’s will means facing a task we’d rather avoid. We must pray and let the Father melt our hearts so we can honestly say, “Your will be done” and get back in circulation for Him.
In walking with the Father, Jesus found Himself facing the cross, which was a trial and task He’d rather have avoided. But because He knew this the Father’s will and because He wanted to walk in His Father’s will, He retreated to a place of prayer to allow the Father to deal with Him and enable Him to face what He wanted to avoid. If we want to do God’s will and follow the example of Jesus, we must do the same.
2. The cross was something Jesus was enabled to face.
Through His struggle at Gethsemane, Jesus was enabled to face Calvary.
Through prayer, Jesus was able to see things from His Father’s point of view and was enabled to do that which He’d rather have avoided. Why? Because through prayer, He received enlightenment He needed to reassure Him that what He was called to face would result in a grand and glorious purpose. In John 17, we read that our Lord’s struggle in Gethsemane resulted in gaining assurance that the cross would result in His experiencing again the glory He’d known in the Father’s presence before the world began and in the salvation of all those would one day place their faith and trust in Him as their personal Savior.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” - John 17:20-24 (ESV)
Prayer let Jesus see things from His Father’s point of view and do what His Father called Him to do. And when we find that God’s will means facing a trial or a task we’d rather avoid, we need to do the same.
Life will have peaks and valleys. To reach the high peaks of blessing, we may have to go through valleys of trials or tasks we’d rather not go through. It’s then that we need to follow the advice of the Psalmist:
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” - Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
Through prayer, we refocus our attention on the Lord and His purpose for our life. We are reminded of His desire for us which is always to bring about that which is the best. Through this, we are enabled then, to face whatever trial or task walking in the will of God might bring our way, even if it is something that we would just as soon avoid.
We must note how this passage ends. The traitor Judas and his gang had arrived. What was Jesus’ response? Not to run away, although even yet, in the night, it might have been easy to escape. No, His response was to face them!
You see, one who kneels to God can stand up to anything. Jesus, having knelt in Gethsemane, was ready to stand up to Calvary.
If we’re to follow our Lord’s example of faithfulness and courage, we must see the value of prayer when it comes to facing the trials or tasks walking in God’s will brings our way. Even though God may require something of us we’d rather avoid, we can remain faithful, if we would be willing to go to the Father in prayer, and allow Him to deal with us as He dealt with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.
All those who journey, soon or late,
Must pass within the garden’s gate;
Must kneel alone in darkness there,
And battle with some fierce despair.
God pity those who cannot say: “Not mine but Thine”;
Who only pray: “Let this cup pass from me,”
And cannot see the purpose in Gethsemane!
When God calls you to Gethsemane, do you watch & pray or fall asleep?
