The garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before going to the cross, is a quiet, serene place. It's hard to imagine that Jesus felt such deep pain there.
The surrendering of our will to our heavenly Father’s can be agonizing at times, and Jesus felt that agony. In fact, Scripture tells us He experienced such anguish in the garden, such overwhelming sorrow, that His sweat became like drops of blood.
Jesus threw Himself before God and prayed, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me” (Mark 14:36). Of course, the cup He was referring to was the wrath of God. Immense suffering lay ahead of Jesus – He would be arrested, beaten, mocked, and eventually nailed to a cross like a common criminal. He pleaded with His Father, the sovereign ruler of the universe, to remove the cup from Him. God could do it. Nothing is impossible for Him. But He didn’t.
Isn’t this the same frustration we face? We know that in an instant God can give us exactly what we want. He can make the sickness go away. He can give us the job we need. He can give us the child we desire. He can fix our marriage. He can end our singleness. He can save our family member. Nothing is impossible for Him.
But He doesn’t always give us those things. At least, not according to our timetable.
Here is the second part of Jesus’ prayer: “Yet, not what I want, but what you want” (v. 36).
What do we do when God doesn’t give us what we want? We do what Jesus did. We surrender our will to the will of our all-knowing, loving, gracious Father, trusting that He has a purpose in our pain.
There’s a paradox in Scripture that out of death comes life. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said that unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a simple kernel. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). What better example of this than Christ? Because of His death, we have life life, which is why the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. His joy was our life. He knew that His suffering had purpose, and He trusted the Father with that purpose. Jesus’ job was to completely surrender.
Our suffering, our dying to self, has purpose, too. And in the end, our surrender will lead to abundant life.