It's a strange time to talk about gardens when you've just experienced a winter blizzard like we have in the Midwest, but two gardens in particular are on my mind today.
Just as the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane was a test of human will vs. God’s will. We see Jesus’ humanity there like nowhere else in the Scriptures.
Jesus knew what had to happen as He grew closer to the time of His death, and yet His humanity was repulsed by it, wanting instead to go in a different direction. We shouldn’t get down on ourselves when our will shrinks back from what God wants. It is part of being human. That's the time to draw upon God’s resources to strengthen us to do His will.
That was the purpose of Jesus’ prayers in the garden. He needed the resources of God to set Himself in the right direction and be able to carry it through. That is very important. He foresaw the difficulty that He would face. He knew He had to make a fully aware decision that there was no going back on. Once He made it, He would see it through until the end. He didn’t leave Himself a way out. It was all or nothing.
That is the kind of consecration that God can bless. This is what will get us to God’s best for our lives. We don’t want to faint in our minds halfway through and start wondering if we can finish the course, or allow doubts and fears to stop us. What is the key? Praying it through ahead of time.
The reason the disciples said one thing ("We'll never leave you, Jesus") and did another (they all fled when He was arrested) is that they didn’t take the opportunity to pray when they had the chance. Jesus was trying to get them to see the importance of it. There was but a brief window of opportunity for them to get the victory in prayer, but they passed it up. It wasn’t as though God couldn’t help them after that, but they went through a lot of heartache, condemnation and difficulty that they could have avoided.
What if they would have prayed? Maybe God could have showed them what was coming so they could steel themselves for it. Maybe they would have been able to stick with Jesus when the hard times came. Maybe they would have had hope when everything looked so hopeless and their world fell apart. What a terrible time they went through, and Jesus was trying to spare them.
But God is faithful! Jesus prayed for them even when they didn’t pray for themselves. Ultimately, they were restored to faith and did great things for God. But it wasn’t an easy road.
God’s will may not seem like the easy road, but actually it is compared to going our own way. To stay on that path, we will have to be determined to see His plan through until the end, no matter what the cost.
