Grand Canyon University, Liberty University, or The Ohio State University? Being uncertain about the future and next steps rattled my son, Ben, as he sought God’s will in his college choices last fall. Ben faced a back-and-forth struggle until God helped him settle on OSU. Seeking God’s plan, not knowing the outcome is just plain hard! We seek God’s will and guidance as we pray through our own struggles and decisions, as we pray for others in their struggles. We hope we’ve made the right choice. Sometimes the path God takes us on is hard. We know God is sovereign and has the perfect plan for each one of us, but we cannot see that plan. He guides and directs our paths, but does He understand how difficult that path can be? How hard it sometimes can be to follow His will?

As the time drew closer for Jesus to endure the agony of the cross, He took his disciples with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew the hour would soon be upon Him, and He needed time with His Father. Jesus requested of Peter, James and John that they journey further into the garden with Him. He desired their moral support as the weight of what was before Him pressed down on Him. In living His life here on earth, Jesus experienced what all humans experience with hunger, thirst, fatigue, hurt, and struggle. He was even tempted as we are yet without sin. As He prayed to His Father that night, He experienced intense emotional and spiritual struggle. Recently I learned of one more struggle Jesus faced that night, so I gave a closer reading to Mark 14:33-36.

“And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.’ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” I learned that Jesus also struggled to do the Father’s will.

John MacArthur in his New Testament Commentary explained that “Around midnight, just hours before His death, the Son of God endured Satan’s final attempt to dissuade Him from the cross, being tempted to put His own human will above that of His heavenly Father…Knowing what was at stake, Jesus earnestly petitioned His heavenly Father.” Jesus knew what was about to take place. Soon He would experience not only great physical agony but would also bear the sins of all mankind past, present and future. He would be forsaken (abandoned or deserted) by His Father. God was about to pour out His judgment for the sins of all mankind on Christ. It was almost more than Jesus could bear. His anguish overwhelmed Him as He knew He would experience separation from His Father.

In David Garland’s NIV Application Commentary, he further explains “In Gethsemane, Jesus meets the dreadful silence of heaven…God has already spoken, and His Son must obey. Jesus overcomes the silence, fights off the human temptation to do as He wills, and through prayer acquiesces to God’s will.” And then lastly David McKenna from his book Mastering the New Testament adds, “His foreknowledge of suffering and His sensitivity of spirit take His anguish deeper than we have ever known.”

Jesus’ prayer was not to get God to change His mind, but rather He wanted His desires and will to be aligned with God’s desire and will. He asked if God’s redemptive purposes could still be accomplished without His sacrifice on the cross. He was not asking God to go back on His promises. He just asked if it could be achieved in another way. This was not a sign of weakness in Jesus but rather His knowledge of the agony He would experience in His holiness as He bore the weight of the sin of all mankind.

Jesus recalls phrases from the psalms of lament to express his despair. In Psalm 43:5 the psalmist expresses, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” As Jesus prays, His despair is than transformed into a calm trust in God. He regains His confidence. Jesus willingly placed His desires in submission to the Father’s will.

Jesus knows how difficult it is to do the Father’s will sometimes. He has experienced anguish and suffering to a greater degree than we ever will. And what did He do? He went to His Father. We should do the same, knowing that we have an Intercessor who knows and understands. We have a Father who sovereignly knows what is best and what will accomplish His purposes.

When you are unsure of what to do, what His will is – go to Him, always go to Him. As you seek God’s will through prayer, you will find His desires become what you desire. When you are in His will and the path is hard, know that you can have the same calm trust in God that Jesus did. He faced the cross, fulfilling God’s perfect plan for the redemption of mankind. Jesus experienced separation from God when the sin of all mankind was placed upon Him. The debt of sin was paid, and all who believe and have accepted this gift can stand clean before a holy God. Nothing can separate you from God. Whatever you are asked to face as you follow God’s will, know with assurance that you don’t walk it alone. God walks with you, fulfilling His perfect plan for you, which in turn brings Him glory.

In His Love,

Susan