I am going to focus in on Matthew 26:36-46 today because it just spoke to me. Lately the Lord has been impressing upon me the power and need for prayer, instead of worry for myself and others. It has been so freeing. The Lord has also been teaching so much about prayer in the past couple of months and I learned more here from this passage.
Here we see Jesus, who has full knowledge of what is about to happen to him, coming to a quiet, desolate place in the middle of the night. Why our souls tend to rend themselves in the dead of night, I'll never know. Maybe it's because we have no distractions, or nothing else to do, or maybe it's because we are so tired and all our pretenses are weak and fail. For whatever reason, Jesus is, as the scriptures say, sorrowful and deeply distressed. And rightly so! He brings a few close buddies with him and he seeks out the Father. What catches me about this text is that he brings friends with him in his darkest hour. We see other times that he goes off completely alone to pray, but not this time. This time he chose these men to be near to him, as a comfort and as a witness in prayer. I am too oft to pray by myself, when really I might be better heard through the prayers of someone else. Not that God didn't hear Jesus' prayers, but there are just sometimes I don't know what to pray and someone else does. I guess I'm seeing that life is lonely enough and while times of solitude in prayer are good and healthy in our relationship with God, I believe times of intimate prayer with others where we seek them out to pray for us and with us are also healthy for our relationship with God and our relationship with others. I have found that prayer with others creates a bond between those persons. And I believe the Lord intended that. I think that's why Jesus chose just those few, because he already had a closer relationship with those three. These were also the same three that saw him transfigured not long before that.
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”I love this prayer. I love that it shows we can saw what we are feeling and what our desires are. We can pour out our hearts to God. We can be frank! Prayer is not about saying the right things, or being flowery or even being long winded. Jesus simply was honest and straightforward. Yet, even in all of that he still submitted to the Father for His perfect will. I find it interesting, that in this passage we don't see him asking for strength. He just asks to be relieved of what he knows is coming.
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless[a] I drink it, Your will be done.”Why had I not seen this before? Someone once told me that the best promise in scripture is 'And it came to pass...' Meaning, it was done, over, completed. Nothing lasts forever. And I guess I'm seeing this for the first time here in the scripture. The torture of the cross would pass from Christ when he passed through it. Eventually it would be over. Is that was got him through it? Looking beyond the cross to the glory that was on the other side of it? Is that how we are to see our momentary troubles? Look beyond them to the glory that shines on the other side? So many times I pray for a situation to be taken from me. And I see here in this passage that that's ok! But I also see that sometimes we need to submit to the Father's hand and walk through the difficult times He's asking us to walk through. Not easy. But the little end line there 'Your will be done.' I see resolve in Christ there. I see a mustering of strength. He sort of gathers himself up and just decides to do it. He submits to the will of the Father.
I'll end with a quote from C.S. Lewis:
"I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me."
Tomorrow's passage: Exodus 16-18, Matthew 27:1-26
8 comments:
It seems maybe like you and I have been on similar journeys lately. I, too, have been learning a lot about prayer and its incredible value. And that it changes ME, not necessarily anything else. And that there is something truly special about opening up, being vulnerable, and praying together with others. It still feels awkward at times, but I meet with three other women twice a month and we pray for each other and our church. It's been awesome!
I read from an old devotional book the last time we met and this sentence really stood out to me: The point for us is our Lord answers our prayers in a way that leads us into deeper trust in Him, not in the answers. When asked if he believed in answers to prayer, and man responded, "Yes, but I belive lots more in the Lord who answers prayer!" And I think we could add, "The Lord who KNOWS the answers."
I just want to bring up something that caught my eye in the OT reading because we were discussing what happened to Pharaoh on Thursday and I saw something here that makes me question some of the articles that were linked. In the beginning of chapter 14, a number of verses (the clearest would be v. 6) specifically indicate that Pharaoh, himself, lead his own army in pursuit of the Israelites. And then at the end of the chapter, it says the entire army was destroyed and that no one survived. It seems to me that "Hard Heart Pharaoh" may have been destroyed here after all and that whichever Pharaoh reigned in Egypt after that would have been a successor.
Nuts. That should be "...Pharaoh, himself, LED his own army," not LEAD!!!! ;)
Thank you so much for your insight, Kathryn. I've been kind of trying to figure out how to go about making prayer a more thoughtful thing that I do, rather than just sending off short one-liners here and there as I think of things through the day. I often pray when I go to bed at night, but find myself falling asleep before even finishing thanking God for his blessings, much less praying for anyone or anything else. I have found tremendous benefit from prayer together with my Bible study group, which is currently a group of four women including myself.
One thing that stood out to me in the Exodus passage (besides what Tammi commented above), was the final verse. "Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water." Doesn't that sound wonderful? Maybe it's just because I live in the frigid North that palm trees are like a symbol of paradise to me. To me it seems little like God gave them a bit of a vacation. They have been in bondage to the Egyptians their entire lives, have just walked across dry land in the middle of a sea, being pursued by the ENTIRE Egyptian army, watched that army destroyed by the hand of God through the waters of the sea, and now they come to a paradise on earth for a rest. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I kind of like the idea of the Israelites having a little vacation before their long journey after everything they've been through already.
No, Miriam, I think you're reading it right. It's the beginning of a pattern for the Israelites and their relationship with God ~ rest, rebellion, repentance, restoration/rest, rebellion, repentance, restoration/rest.... and so on and so forth. I think this was a picture of the spiritual rest they could have continuously had in God had they kept their hearts on Him, despite the harsh wilderness areas He would lead them through.
Great post Kathryn. It actually makes me feel better that Jesus himself can admit that He is in an impossible situation and wants to find a way out even though he knows what lies on the other side. I know that our troubles are meant to draw us closer to God and to make us stronger but it is sometimes overwhelming.
We talked earlier this week about the importance of sharing our God with our kids and I think about the whole crossing the Red Sea experience. Imagine the stories, the fear, the excitement of walking on dry land and then to see God physically save you from the people pursuing you. What an amazing story of deliverance and if it had been purposely passed down to the future generations in this way, would it had made a difference?
Great post! Prayer has become much more important to me over the last year or so.
I loved the OT passage today. The Israelites felt so discouraged and probably betrayed by their God when they saw the Egyptians ready to attack them. I'm sure many of us have all felt that way at times. However, if we just trust God, He will bring us through the rough times in our life. I wonder how the Israelites felt after they completely doubted God and then saw Him deliver them in such a miraculous way.
I love the prayer in the garden! It shows us so many things! If Jesus Himself needed to pray to the Father for strength, so do we! It also shows us how to submit to God's will, even when we are afraid, or are longing for something else! Prayer, communication with God is the way to stay in His will, and accomplish it! I too, love how Jesus brought others with Him. I just wish they would have been more faithful, and prayed longer, rather than falling asleep! :(
....Everything I've read in commentaries, historical documents, etc. points to Pharoah surviving the closing of the waters. Many times leaders would "lead" a charge, but weren't on the actual front line. I often wonder if he wouldn't of gone back to make sure chaos didn't break out with the Egypians at home;given all that had happend. I guess that's something we won't know for sure, until we get to Heaven!
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