Hebrews 5: 7 – 10 (MSG) While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God’s Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him.
You’re in, what seems like, the deepest and darkest place in your life. You call out to Jesus, only to feel like He didn’t hear you at all?
You make your plea…perhaps it starts something like this:
• Why do I feel like I’m at the bottom of a pit and can’t find my way out?
• Lord why is this happening to me? Why is my marriage failing?
• Why is my child raging?
• Why am I slowly dying of this incurable disease?
• Why am I losing my job?
• Why I feel all alone?
• Why…why…why?
I’ve made these types of cries to the Lord and have felt at times that He just wasn’t listening. I’ve even wondered at times why God didn’t answer my prayer…OR…did He answer, and I was unwilling to be obedient to the answer He gave? [OUCH!]
When Jesus walked this earth, he also faced struggles and trials. He stepped out of his perfect heaven, emptied himself (Philippians 2:7) and took on the form of a human. Why? To show us how to live, treat others, and most importantly be obedient to the will of God even if it’s not the path we would choose for ourselves. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus cries out to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane to spare Him from what was ahead – death on the cross.
Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want [emphasis mine]?”
In this verse, we see just one example of Jesus’s complete obedience even when he was staring death in the face. As Christians, we are to follow His example. Hanging on the cross, Jesus could have called 10,000 angels to spare him the pain and anguish… but he didn’t. Obedience to the Father was more important to him than his comfort. He knew God had a plan for his life and he had to follow the plan.
God knew what was on the other side of the cross.
Similarly, God knows what’s on the other side of our crisis. He knows the plans He has for us. Just look at He promise in Jeremiah 29:11 – 14 (MSG)
I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else [emphasis mine], I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.
He hears our prayers and cares about the intimate details of our lives. Putting our trust and hope in the things of this world will leave us high and dry every time. But when we place our trust in God, we know that through every crisis we are learning to be more obedient to God and the plans He has for our lives.
Father, help me! Help me see this current crisis as another way to become more like your Son. Help me to learn how to respond to things the way Jesus would have responded to things when He walked this earth. Help me to remember the promises in your word and to put them into practice when I feel like I don’t know what to do next. Help me Lord to “cast all my cares on you” because I know you love me more than I can even comprehend. Also, help me remember to look to you as the sole source of my strength instead of getting wrapped up in the circumstances around me. I trust you Lord, help me obediently trust you even more during this season of my life.
The word of God is as true today as it was over 2,000 thousands of years ago. The Bible has stood the test of time and is our guiding light in the uncharted waters of this journey we call life. Through it, God shows us His unconditional love, how to live and how to love. He has also given us armor we can put on every day to stand up and fight against Satan’s schemes (Ephesians 6:10 – 18). He even promises peace to people who follow him (Psalms 85:5 and Isaiah 26:3-4).