Facing Gethsemane
Have you ever found yourself alone with God, facing the most important trial of your life? This is when we profoundly struggle to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be done.” Jesus Christ was in Gethsemane when He battled within, knowing the time of his death was at hand. He was in agony of spirit, in His humanity wanting another way than the incredible suffering and death laid out before Him. His specific prayer is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke:
“Going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Matthew 26:39 Berean
“And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.’” Mark 14:36 Berean
“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42 Berean
When everything within Him did not want to face what He knew the Father had foretold was ahead for Him, He poured out His heart to His Father. Then He set all that He desired aside with either the word “yet” or “nevertheless.” He is saying to the Father, “Disregard all I just said, if it must be this way.” Jesus knew His Father could deliver Him in an instant. Did He not say that He could call and a myriad of angels would rescue Him? But His great heart of obedience, His understanding of the Father’s plan, and His love for us, led Him to commit all to God’s will.
It is most comforting to know that when we are in agony about facing something that God has brought us to in our walk with Him, a critical crossroad in our life, we, too, can pour out all of our feelings to our Father. He knows what is in our hearts and we can be assured, as Jesus was, that He hears us. Jesus did not leave that time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane the same as He went into it. When we submit our will to the Father’s will, we leave our times of desperate prayer changed as well, with His strength girding up our submission to His will.
Jesus, the Pattern son, went to Gethsemane right before He was to be arrested and condemned to die on the cross. He had asked His disciples to wait and pray with Him, but they were tired and fell asleep. And Father God did not immediately lift the agony from His soul. Three times He went to pray, talking with His Father about it. His feelings did not rule Him, so He was strengthened to endure the path before Him.
He never said He would not obey. He just asked the Father if there was another way to accomplish what God intended, if this “cup” of sorrow and horrendous pain He was to drink could in any way bypass Him. How humanly alone our Lord must have felt! Luke gives the most complete account of this most difficult time in Gethsemane:
“Now when He arrived at the place, [Gethsemane], He said to them, ‘Pray that you do not come into temptation.’ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’
Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you do not come into temptation.’ Luke 22:40-46 NASB
He had just told the disciples two days before that the time when He would be crucified was close at hand. He said this right before the Last Supper, during Passover, when He identified Judas as the traitor. Revealing Judas as Jesus’ betrayer was another blow to this close group of His faithful followers. He knew the upcoming period of time would test them to their limits and wanted them to pray for strength as well.
But the disciples had been “sorrowing” and Jesus understood that. He also knew they would be much more vulnerable after His arrest than any of them anticipated. He urged them to pray that they would not come into temptation, but they did not believe they would betray their Lord. We may assume the same thing—until such a Gethsemane experience comes upon us. For most of us, it is not a life and death matter, not comparable to what Jesus went through, though there are Christians who have and still suffer greatly and die for their Lord.
As these crucial events unfolded before the disciples, however, it was not just Peter who denied Jesus three times to others. All of the disciples fled during His arrest, out of fear of the soldiers and the angry crowd. The scripture records:
“At that time [of Jesus’ arrest] Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a man inciting a revolt? Every day I used to sit on the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me.
But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets will be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples left Him and fled.’” Matthew 26: 55-56 NASB
He was truly alone at the darkest hour of His life. He knew the joy that was set before Him but he still had to go through being betrayed, arrested, whipped, ridiculed and beaten before dying a shameful and pain-filled death on the cross. He knew what He would be facing and also knew all would abandon Him. He had been given strength to endure at Gethsemane.
Matthew’s account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane varies from some aspects of Luke’s account:
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and told His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.’ Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!’” Matthew 26:36-46 NASB
Both accounts report that Jesus told them to pray, then leaving His disciples to pray the more earnestly to His Father. They fell asleep instead. They did not have the strength to stay alert and pray to stay out of temptation. Jesus doesn’t bother them the third time, but it’s hard to tell whether He was chastising or warning them with these two accounts. He does show compassion in recognizing their exhaustion from sorrow, wanting to be with their Lord in spirit, but their flesh is too weak.
Since then it is a frequent, even casual quote for people to say, “Well, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Our flesh is weak and cannot accomplish the will of God. Jesus coming in the human flesh of a man illustrates this, particularly in His Gethsemane experience. At no other time does our Lord talk to the Father about desiring to avoid what God wanted Him to do.
Christians called and chosen of the Lord see the pattern Jesus set forth. When we are to endure something that God clearly requires of us but we dread, hate, or even have agony about, only the spirit of Christ within us can strengthen us to obedience.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV
We may not yet see all of our flesh being swallowed up by the spirit of Christ within us, but we have faith that what He promises, He will accomplish within us when we submit our will to His. This does not necessitate a change of our emotions. Obedience submits the will, and the emotions follow as God takes over. Sometimes He brings immediate peace with our surrender. At other times, we may continue to have feelings about the matter, but our surrendered will steadfastly holds us in His will, the eternally faithful One.
We are able to have the faith of Abraham:
“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’
He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” Romans 4:16-18 Berean
Jesus was in agony about fulfilling the plan of God. Our Gethsemane experiences may first appear in yielding to God’s will about what we want or desire, we resist or even dread. It’s the way we learn the harder lessons of trust that He knows best, even though we cannot see that. We need to stay in God’s school until we have the faith necessary to believe all that we know, every bit of what God has promised, will come to pass, regardless of whether we now see it.
“I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them.
I will turn darkness into light before them and uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” Isaiah 42:16 NASB
We do not know all the paths God has for us and that is a good thing! There are periods in any Christian’s life that, had we known what was coming as Jesus did, it would become that much harder to face. We enjoy it when the Lord gives us a glimpse of His specific good future for us, but it is not so enjoyable when He gives us a sense of impending suffering or a denial of a strong desire we have.
There are severe times of testing when the Gethsemane experience is continually in our lives, such as when those we love suffer and die. All of Jesus’ followers experienced this. Surrender to the Lord’s will brings much affliction to our flesh at such times. But truly yielding our will to His brings acceptance to what is or will be rather than what we so very much want, desire, and even need. Practicing surrender eventually results in more rapid yielding of our will to His will.
This is sharply different from giving up in resignation. Giving up is not true, full surrender to God and His plan. It may be a stage we pass through, however, on our way to full surrender. It’s when we conclude that we cannot control the outcome, that it is beyond our ability to change it unless God chooses to do so. We ‘give up’ in defeat rather than faithfully surrender to what the Lord decrees.
When the full yielding of our soul—our mind, will, and emotions—is completed, we stop trying to avoid what is necessary in God’s plan for us. We face it, deal with it, accept it. We no longer pursue ideas or methods to make it happen, with or without His blessing. Obedient saints do confront things that are dreaded, that we’d prefer to avoid. Frequently this can be asking, hoping, or praying for physical life for others or ourselves.
Sometimes it is a deeply felt and long-held desire to have something that other saints have seemingly obtained without struggle, such as a life partner or a child to love. Dearly-held dreams that are fleshly desires are crucified in a Gethsemane experience as we yield to His will. Surrender is our sacrifice. The questions and feelings we bring before the Lord are similar to His Gethsemane prayer, though most of us cannot fathom the deep agony Jesus faced at that time.
There are many natural human desires —to have a secure home and income, to be safe and well-loved, and to stop going through the same trials that never seem to resolve on our behalf. Sometimes we feel like the horse running a race to get to the reward of winning, only to see it denied again and again. Discouragement sets in and even despair when we do not see God’s answers in our time frame or seemingly even in our lifetime here on this earth.
Peace arrives only through surrendering to what will be, regardless of our desires. We can always rest in the scriptures of the promises He has given:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NASB
Here is God’s promise, the eventual outcome of our spiritual lives, though momentarily we struggle to believe it during any Gethsemane experience of agonizing over obedience to Him. Saints who come to these spiritual turning points believe that God is able to either fulfill their heart’s desire or deliver them from the torment of wanting something God has denied them. When we accept that God’s plan does not include what we are seeking Him for, like Jesus we are strengthened to accept His will is not ours.
Such Gethsemane experiences are deep spiritual lessons from God. Typically we are alone in them, just as Jesus was alone with His Father. While others may not all fall asleep, they still cannot be inside us, experiencing with us the agony of our souls. God takes us through times of sorrow and grief that are common to man, not out of them. Our prayers are to be given endurance in accepting His decision. He is able to take the pain of loss, of denial, of the ending of hope, from us. Then we are in His rest, regardless of the outcome.
A Gethsemane experience is a crisis, often a turning point in our walk of faith. Though it might seem turning points in our walk would come primarily from peak spiritual experiences, times of acute struggle more often bring further understanding, refinement, and commitment to God’s ways. They are necessary to learn more about our God. Many of the Lord’s people in the Bible waited for years for the fulfillment of God’s promises to them. What God promises will happen but the timing is still His—unless we take matters into our own hands.
Those things we struggle with in our Gethsemane times may require years of waiting on the Lord. We can be most miserable during this wait, especially when we have a very strong will to have what is being denied. Or we can learn to wait with peace and faith in our Father as Jesus did. When waiting without knowing what God plans specifically for our lives, when we are “walking blind” into our future, it can be most troubling indeed!
Yet these are times we learn to rest and trust like never before. When we yield it all, seeking Him with a whole heart, He is able to grant His peace and trust in the waiting. A very important lesson during these Gethsemane experiences is learning, really knowing, that God loves us regardless. Jesus had heavy feelings, with much weighing on His heart. He took it all to the Father, who sent an angel to strengthen Him in facing what was to come. He did not pretend to be a happy martyr in Gethsemane.
Jesus did not want to have to do it—who would? But there was no rebellion in His heart as there may be in ours. He was well-practiced in doing the will of His Father. God is faithful and most able to answer surrendered prayer by granting it. Or He may show another path for us, a better way for our lives to unfold. He knows the end from the beginning, the unexpected changes in our circumstances that we cannot know in order to plan for this ahead of time.
It is easy to look back and be grateful for how He skillfully and perfectly planned things out, even if, at the time, we were angry, resentful, or even pouting about the matter. We do learn to surrender and wait peacefully for His answer for us. Or we fret and fuss, complain and even become bitter. God knows these things are in our hearts and will help us as we learn to surrender to Him, no matter how long it takes.
When we desperately want something that He is not granting, God is burning out the dross within us. He knows what we’ve been waiting for, asking for, knocking for. The issue is this: the very thing we most want is at risk of being more important to us than the Lord is, an idol in our lives. He sees the longing and even desperation in our hearts—that we believe what we desire is most important, if not essential. But He will have no other gods before Him, as He states many times in the Bible.
“Let there be no strange god among you, Nor shall you worship any foreign god.” Psalms 81:19 Amplified
Strange, foreign gods were always an issue with the Israelites. They were surrounded by those who worshiped idols and kept falling into this grievous sin. We are also surrounded by things that others idolize. What is an idol but an object of worship? We can certainly identify idols in our present society, most of which God does not prioritize. What people love to have and love to do can grow into taking more and more focus of time and investment. More than a few of us Christians have had desires in our hearts at some point that somehow became more important than the Lord within us.
What we believe is essential to our life and happiness most definitely is not essential if it is not God’s will for us. Regardless of the outcome, the path of life is to surrender our desires to the Lord. While in our Gethsemane experience, however, disturbing human thoughts can flood our minds. This is most likely to occur when our struggle is with a common desire for a good thing that other Christians have easily received:
“God, don’t you love me enough to grant me what is so very important to me? How come you allow others to have [children, good health, healing, a life partner, a loving, stable family, a long life, success, esteem, wealth, beauty etc. etc.] but do not grant this to me?” Such thoughts, while all too humanly understandable, risk anger with the Lord Himself. God has a plan for our lives. And God does know how to listen to His people who are in anguish before Him.
Only God sees in our hearts to know what our primary motives are. Jesus understandably did not want to go through the suffering He knew was to come. We can comfort ourselves that, though we suffer with Him, most of us will never have the agony He brought to the Father at Gethsemane. Never was anything more important than Jesus’ submission to the cross. It was the hardest test of Jesus’ earthly life. Gethsemane's experiences are the ultimate times of testing in our walk with God.
Everyone’s Gethsemane experience is different because we each have our own most important desires of our hearts for which we petition God. When we pass these tests, not surprisingly, they often yield the richest of spiritual rewards.We are empowered to better face sudden threats of painful loss and times of adversity. We can be like Him in both surrender and the resurrection of a new beginning that He works within.
As a result of Jesus’ obedience, His surrender at Gethsemane, the whole plan of God was revealed and changed for all:
“Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying: ‘If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him’”. 2 Timothy 2:3;11-12 Berean
While our decisions are not equally impactful for others, God does rely on people to carry out His will on earth as it is in heaven. We don’t know what the cost of our desires will be in what we are called to do, but He does. My own Gethsemane experience was about a lifelong desire to have a child. I was by no means instantly obedient to laying this down for whatever God called me to do. It took years of misery, even bitterness, until I yielded this to the Lord.
When I came to the point of true surrender, I gave up any right I thought I had to this if it would not allow me to fulfill His will for my life. What I finally asked for was peace, regardless, not the sharp pain of being barren while others, even those who did not want children, became mothers. Through His word, God showed me He was in charge of Who has children—if, when, and how. It was not the man I was dealing with but God Almighty.
I am reverent enough not to insist on my own way in such an important matter. I was not tempted to make it happen myself, as some suggested I do, but I did not want to suffer any more. After years of struggle and a significant change in circumstances, I was granted great peace after this surrender! I know I would be ok remaining childless if that was His will. But what a battle raged with my soul and His spirit!
The lessons I learned through those years of struggle made a permanent change in my spiritual walk with the Lord. Our Gethsemane experiences are all different but God is faithful in providing the strength and peace to go through it. Jesus left that time of prayer in the garden of Gethsemane strengthened to do the Father’s will and so can we do so. I was forever changed in realizing that God loved me, was not denying me a child because He did not, and that I could be peaceful in Him regardless.
Sometimes, as God did with Abraham in telling him to sacrifice Isaac, his only child, God lets us know we have passed the test and then releases us from it. Shortly after my surrender and peace, God made me know, confirmed by a prophet, that I would have a child. Circumstances changed, and a few years later, Rich and I had our wonderful son, Chris, when I was 40 and he was 41. At least I was not as old as Sarah when the Lord gave her and Abraham their son of the promise, Isaac!
This may be nothing like your Gethsemane experience, but it was what God dealt with me about. I wish I would have been able to handle it more maturely, but it seemed to be the best I could do. There are other times when God says no, such as the death of my brother at age 39, when the Lord eventually comforted our hearts in the loss. He knows what is required for the future of His plan. He always knows the end from the beginning and brings us to that place where we can trust Him in all things.
Remaining single when a Christian desires to have a life partner, experiencing people we love and are praying for die rather than live, seeking physical health and release from affliction that is slow to come or never does, periods of suffering and loss with changes, even betrayals in our work, home, and country—all are trials we go through on the path to spiritual growth.
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace.
In the world, you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy];
I have overcome the world [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]” John 16:33 Amplified
The Gethsemane experience may be about any trial facing us in this life, with one common to all: it will be the very hardest thing for us to lay down, to surrender to God’s plan instead of our own. Perhaps you cannot relate to what tested me the most, but Jesus can. Jesus Christ our Lord has already been through it all, so He knows.
“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.” Hebrews 4:15 Amplified
Jesus knows. He is at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding against the enemy of our souls. We can do everything required of us because He is our strength within. We are comforted in all ways by the spirit. We come out victorious, just as He did in the resurrected life given by the Father to Him. We can trust that we are stronger, better, more obedient, more like Him, when we emerge from the cocoon of a Gethsemane experience to fly free of any weight that has held us back.
The key is not whether we get what we want or not but the peace that follows surrender to God, trusting His will, not our earthly perspective. Times of adversity that bring the most suffering to our human nature are part of His preparation for what He has called us to do in this life. While we prefer the times of blessing and peace, times of refreshing in the spirit, these do not create the deep changes in our hearts that times of affliction and struggle produce. We can wish it weren’t so, but it was so for Jesus and so it is for us.
“It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.” Psalms 119:71 Berean
God’s plan is always the best, no matter how difficult it may seem, how weak our flesh may be in the matter. Looking back, we are grateful in seeing how God’s plans unfolded for us for our good. Some dearly held dreams for our lives are desires that God has placed in our hearts and are eventually granted. Others need to be rooted up, burned up by God’s fiery presence within, so these fleshly desires do not hinder our walk with God and the calling He has destined for us.
We must be free to fulfill what we have been called and chosen to do.There are things that we must do, just like Jesus did, and God gives peace and strength to go through it. No one wants a Gethsemane experience, but most Christians who go on to know the Lord and His ways will have one. It’s time to consider anything we hold on to in our hearts, even those “good things” that we long for, that God would have us yield to Him.
He will have a people called by His name who do not put anything above Him. When we surrender all, He makes it so.