Mark: Jesus gets what I’m going through

I think if we’re honest with ourselves there’s something in our life that we’d rather not have to think about or do, something that weighs us down and causes us anxiety. Perhaps it’s a painful conversation that you know you need to have with a loved one. Maybe you need to make a lifestyle change and it’s scaring you. Or maybe you need to leave your current, comfortable job and try something new, something unknown and untried. Whatever it is, it has you terrified. You don’t know exactly how things are going to work out.

Let me tell you, you’re not alone. There are people right now going through the same thing you are, and there’s many more who have gone before you. Moreover, we know Jesus also struggled with these same feelings and anxious thoughts. You are not alone!

On the night before Jesus was crucified (actually, it was only a few hours before He died), Jesus went and prayed. He called out to God in agonizing fashion. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was in such anguish that He was sweating blood (Luke 22:44) as He asked God to take the task from Him. But each time He ended with the phrase, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” It’s a recognition that God is in control, that He knows the beginning from the end and all points in between, and He knows what’s best. It is an admission of complete and utter dependence upon Him.

Are you there yet? I know I still have a ways to go! But I do know this: as I call out to God, He hears me. He knows what I’m going through. Jesus understands and empathizes because He too has suffered. And it’s because of His sufferings that I’m able, that we are able, to call out to God. Jesus did what we can not do — He made a way for us to be with God. He was in anguish; He called out to God and sweat blood; He was beaten and crucified; but He rose from the dead making a way for us to go from death to life! No matter what you are facing, God is with you, and His strength is all you need, it is more than enough!

Pastor Mike