“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
Being a follower of Christ is a beautiful experience in which we feel God’s everlasting love and desire for us to be in communion with him. So often sermons preach the promises of God’s love and fulfillment of those promises through the death and resurrection of Christ without discussing the pains that come along with that communion. Following Jesus sometimes comes with heartbreak.
We have to train our hearts not to love the things we once loved because we cannot love obedience and rebellion at the same time. How do you deal with the pain of trusting God’s timing when you feel like he forgot about you? How do you pray, trust, and believe in God when we are in the midst of pain? How do we carry the love of God in our hearts when our hearts are shattered?
First and foremost, we look towards Christ; the ultimate steward of pain. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane not once but three times asking God to take this cup from him. Jesus knew the pain he was about to endure. Jesus knew the flesh would be torn from his body; he would be stripped, beaten, and ridiculed. Jesus knew he would have nails driven into his feet and hands. Jesus knew he would be hung on a cross to endure several hours of excruciating suffocation until his muscles had no strength left as he feverishly gasped for breath. He stewarded that pain for us. He looked towards the future with us for eternity to handle the pain at his death.
That is how God calls us to steward our pain. Instead of looking towards the painful circumstances and crying out why God? This isn’t Fair God or even quitting; we look towards God. We look towards the person that endured all things so we did not have to. We carry the message that love does not mean ease. We look to a future where suffering is no more; we accept and surrender that God never promised us a perfect life on earth; God promised us an eternity with him; we are not meant to remain here; we are in the messy middle. We plant the seed of knowledge and truth in our hearts, water it regularly with prayer and scripture, and grip tightly the hope of life everlasting through the promise already fulfilled. And when we doubt and fall short, we do all these things again.
Lord of Lords and Gods of heavenly hosts,
Power and glory to your name. Please grant me courage to exist in this broken place. Please drive out the fear and doubt that infiltrates my life. God provide me the wisdom to look towards the cross in the midst of my pain and hear the voice of Jesus. To hear Jesus say, “I was scared too, but I did it for you.” Let me carry Jesus’s promise and sacrifice with me today and everyday.
Amen
