In my opinion, one of the most powerful pictures we get to see in the bible is the recorded events of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you recall, Jesus went there to pray shortly before being betrayed by Judas.
During this time of intense prayer the burden of his crucifixion weighed heavily on him. It is the most intimate glimpse we have of Jesus’ humanity.
Luke 22:39-46New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Garden of Gethsemane
39 And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. 40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” 43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. 45 When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
We get to see that Jesus was struggling to follow through with the Father’s plan. He pleaded, “if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” He was in such anguish that we are told “His sweat became like drops of blood.”
This type of anguish is not foreign to us. All of us know how difficult it is to surrender our will to the will of another. I don’t know you personally but I would say that more often than not, when you do surrender your will to the will of another, it is under duress. Especially if it is something that could greatly influence your life in some way.
You see, the more potential a situation has to influence our lives, the more we get invested in the outcome. As we become more invested we become more emotionally charged. Under these circumstances we want to be in control. We do not like to surrender control or outcome to another. Including God, and it’s okay to feel that way. Jesus did.
This is, as they say, where the rubber meets the road. It is a perfectly normal and instinctive reaction to want to be in control. However, as Christians, we are called to surrender. To surrender our will for the will of our Heavenly Father. Jesus speaks these words as recorded in the book of Matthew:
Matthew 16:24-25New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Discipleship Is Costly
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
What makes the image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane such a powerful story is his own struggle to deny himself.
The reality is that most of us will not be called upon to give our life for our faith. (However, some of us will. As a side note, there have been more Christians martyrs in the past two years than any other time in history.) But all of us are called to be obedient. We are all called to follow in the footsteps of Christ. This will inevitably lead to us being in conflict with God when his ways don’t line up with ours; when his preferences are not ours; when his priorities conflict with ours; and when his outcome costs us more than we want to pay.
It is a true measure of maturity to be able to say, “not my will, but Yours be done.”
I would be remiss if I did not ask you, “Is there an area of your life where you have great anguish because it requires you to surrender control and outcome to God? Would you have the strength today to say, “not my will, but Yours be done?”
Written by Larry Westfall. Copyright © Finding Wonder 2016.
