The Well

Connecting Hope to the Hurting

Thursday
March 20, 2008

SAD AND TROUBLED?

Then Jesus went with his followers to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, and he began to be very sad and troubled. He said to them, "My heart is full of sorrow, to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."
After walking a little farther away from them, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, do not give me this cup of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want."
Then Jesus went back to his followers and found them asleep. He said to Peter, "You men could not stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the body is weak."
Matthew 26:36-41

This Scripture never fails to sadden me. It pains me to think of Jesus being alone without any support during His darkest hour. These Scriptures show the humanity of Jesus in such a way that we can relate to Him.

How many times have you been "sad and troubled" with no one to comfort you? If you are like me the times have been too numerous to count. At this point, Jesus could have died of a broken heart if for even one moment He lost sight of His purpose and gave into His humanity. Yet, He was honest before His Father and confessed His desire to be free from the impending shame and pain. However, His deepest desire was for His Father's will to be done.

At the deepest core of Jesus burned a desire to be obedient to the Father with a willing heart. I stopped the reading at verse 41, but as you know, Jesus prayed this prayer three times. According to this account, His prayer took an hour to pray. Can you imagine the intensity and the agony with which He must have prayed? Have you been there? Has God ever asked you to do something that you had to wrestle with until your motives were right? I have, and it is emotionally exhausting.

Too many times I do the right things for the wrong reasons. My motivation to serve has often been born of a desire to be accepted and loved, so I did everything within my power to make myself visible to everyone. God broke me. My will, my way, my desires, everything about me had to be broken until my motives were in line with God's will for my life.

Just as I labored and cried having my children, my soul is in labor with tears as I anticipate what Jesus hungers to see happen in His church. He is sending His Spirit to move among us and bring hurting people to our midst. Will we be faithful for one hour to pray earnestly for His will to be expressed in our lives?

Jesus was alone in prayer that night with His Father. God heard the prayer, and I believe His heart hurt too as He told Jesus the price had to be paid. Let's pray the price of prayer, believing the price of sin is paid, all we have to do is stay awake to God's will. Pray for our pastors, for those who lead us in praise and worship, and pray that God's people will worship Him in spirit and truth. Then pray that God will send the people who need to hear all that is said and sung.

Hope you were encouraged.
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All Scripture is taken from "The New Living Translation unless otherwise notated."
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