'The Garden Battle'
Inspiration

As we reflecton the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ during the Easter season, we need to be careful not to overlook one point of intense suffering that was a very pivotal time for Christ: His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. While artists often depict Christ there in the garden of prayer with a peaceful and composed look on His face, in reality the intensity of what He faced was excruciating. Luke gives us a glimpse of the raging battle that Christ was engaged in: "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (22:44, NIV). But His agonizing in prayer was not in vain, for He reached the place where He could say with all sincerity and submission, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done" (verse 42). An observation of the arrest, trial, suffering and crucifixionof Christ leaves no doubt about His sincerity: Christ accepted and surrendered to the will of the Father and accomplished in His sacrificial death what He came to earth to do. He died, so we can have the opportunity to live eternally.

How does Christ's attitude in prayer compare to ours? Each must answer that personally, but Scripture does record an event that reminds me of the approach that perhaps far too many take in seeking God. For some, prayer is not seeking God for guidance but it is seeking His approval for what they have already determined to do before ever asking God about it.

In the Book of Jeremiah, as some of the Jewish people wanted to move to Egypt to escape the destruction that was going on in Jerusalem, they approached the prophet with these words: "Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do" (Jeremiah 42:3). That sounds good! And they added more. They committed themselves to do whatever God said in response to the prayer: "Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to Whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God" (verse 6). Again, it sounds like what good church folks ought to say. The problem was, when God forbade them to go to Egypt, they rejected His answer and even accused the prophet of lying to them. They proceeded with their plan and paid no attention to God's answer: "So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes" (43:7). Truly a fatal mistake it was.

We can rejoice that Christ was sincere in His desire to fulfillHis Father's will. As a result of His submission, even though it came with a high price for Him, we are greatly blessed with the availability of His forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.

How does your sincerity in prayer compare to Christ's? Are you willing to lay your plans aside to follow God's or have you already made up your mind before you approach Him? May we all learn to accept God's will for our lives as Christ did: "not My will, but Yours be done."