A Model in Suffering
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. ” Matthew 26:39
In Gethsemane, we see two different responses to trouble: Jesus’ submission and the disciples’ fear. We must learn from Jesus what our attitude shows when life becomes painful–one of earnest prayer to our Father in heaven. We must not try to stand in our own strength; rather we must learn new dependence on him. The person who will depend on God in times of trial and pain is the person whom God will be able to use. Above all we must submit our will to the will of God: “Yet, not as I will but as you will. Our greatest problems come not from trouble, but from our resistance to trouble when we close our eyes to the will of God as it is revealed to us in difficulty.
Thank God for trouble! It will drive us to him!
The disciples did not follow the model of Jesus; instead, they left him in his time of greatest weakness. They looked at their circumstances instead of him. They forsook Jesus and fled. How it must have pained him! He was denied him three times. How that must have pierced his soul! We are to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation and forsake him when times are difficult. The Lord will not cast us off when we stumble and fall and has given us a way of escape so that we need not falter (1 Cor. 10:13). It is a grace that can keep us even when the opposition is great.
Jesus is looking for men and women, young people and old people who will stand fast for him, who will put him first, and not only when it is pleasant. When life includes misunderstanding, sarcasm, scorn, and persecution, he has grace to keep us faithful. He will not forsake us. Should we forsake him?
—Dennis Kinlaw,
This Day with the Master
Thank God for trouble—not because it is easy, but because it can drive us to the only One who is unshaken. In Gethsemane, Jesus showed us the way through trouble: not escape, but surrender. While the disciples ran in fear, Jesus knelt in trust. Their eyes were on the chaos; His were on the Father. And though they failed Him, He never failed them. Trouble reveals our weakness, but it also invites us to cling more tightly to Christ, who knows the pain of betrayal and the weight of sorrow—and who still chose love. When trouble comes, may it turn our hearts not to panic, but to prayer—not away from Jesus, but deeper into His grace. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics