“Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.”
Luke 22: 42 (GNT)
Scripture: Luke 22: 39-46
I gave this devotion the working title of Garden Crisis. Jesus had a moment in the Garden of Gethsemane. This devotion looks at how Jesus struggled with the mission He was given and how He overcame.
When we picture Jesus in our minds, what does He look like? We probably see Him gently talking to people or curing the ill. Or we see Him calming the storm. Sometimes, we think the waves are crashing everywhere — except the place where He is.
We probably think of Jesus as an even-keeled guy. Yes, He had that one outburst at the Temple when He overturned the tables (Mt. 21: 12-17: Jn. 2: 13-22), but we can excuse that as provoked. The rest of the time, we see Him as in control of everything.
Jesus in the Garden
Then we see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was a Man in crisis. He was having His own spiritual tornado.
Jesus may have been unsure of Himself. His world was out of control. Things were careening, and He was along for the ride.
On the other hand, Jesus might have been dreading then time when God would have to turn away from Him. He was going to take on all the sins of the world — past, present, and future. God couldn’t look at that.
If there was some other way for the redemptive plan to be accomplished, Jesus was all for that. He specifically prayed for the cup to pass from Him (Mt. 26: 39; Mk. 14: 36; Lk. 22: 42). Many would say God didn’t answer that prayer – even though Jesus asked Him three times.
Whoa, wait! God didn’t answer all of Jesus’ prayers??? Was this a first, or were there other times? Don’t know.
God did answer Jesus’ prayer. The answer was, “Drink the cup.” It was a huge, resounding, “No!”
Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross. As the song says, He could have call 10,000 angels to come rescue Him.
But Jesus chose not to abandon the plan. He knew what He had to do, and He did it.
What Does That Mean?
Jesus was having His own spiritual tornado here, but what did He do? He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk. 22: 42 ESV).
God allowed Jesus to question Him. Yes, Jesus had gone 33 years and done everything perfect. You might say He was entitled to one crisis — especially when the culmination was about to commence.
Even though we had seen others question God, we needed to see Jesus do it. We needed to see Jesus exhibit some of the same fears and conflicts that we do. True, most of the time our spiritual tornadoes aren’t life and death matters like this one was. Many, however, are vitally important to us.
To read When Can We Question God?, click the button below.
We saw Jesus make a choice – was He going to do what He wanted or what God wanted? Was He going to take the easy way or the painful way?
Yes, Jesus questioned God and suggested an alternate route. But through it all, He said, “The decision is Yours. I will do what You have set for me to do.”
What About Us?
When things get rough for us, don’t we ask God what He is doing? Don’t we say there has to be a better way? Don’t we acknowledge we don’t feel in control and don’t know what is happening?
That is okay — as long as we say, “But You are in control. You know what is best. Your Will be done.”
We’ve heard that God answers prayers in three ways — “yes,” “no,” and “wait.” I really think that there is a fourth way — “I have something better for you.” God can tell you “no” without saying “I have something better for you.” (I am not sure we can classify Jesus dying better for Him — for us, yes; for Him, not so much.)
God does answer all of our prayers. When something doesn’t work out the way we think it should, it is easy for us to think He hasn’t answered our prayers when, in fact, He has told us “no.” Sometimes, He tell us, “Just do what you were told.”
Attitude plays a big part in how we can question God. We don’t want to sin when we are trying to work things out in our minds. We need to roll things around until we get to the point we can say, “It’s all Yours, God.” God let’s us get to that point as long as we always acknowledge His sovereignty.
We need to accept His plans for our lives and turn everything over to Him. Is that easy? No. But practice makes perfect. God will generally start us out with little things so we can see His hand working in our lives. Then He grows us to grow our faith in Him.
So, it is attitude and choice. We have to back off so God can step up and work in us through our spiritual tornadoes. It won’t be easy because it goes against our human nature and what society has taught us. It does get easier as we learn to live more in His Will.
Jesus struggled and overcame because He put His complete trust in His Father. We can, too, because God is our Father, too.
Merciful Father. You love us so much. You put up with so much from us. We don’t question Your sovereignty. At times, we may not see the purpose or the pathway. We want to question to make sure we are doing Your Will. Forgive us if we try to do things on our own. Forgive us if we don’t put our trust in You. Amen.
What do you think? Does it help you to know that Jesus went through a spiritual tornado? Or would you have rather seen Him always totally in control? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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