Life is full of so many moments of decision. Some are easy, others seem crushing and so change the course of our lives.
How do we make the right decisions, when it comes to “the Will of God” for our lives?
Let’s look at Jesus.
He faced countless decisions, but than of them compared to the ultimate decision He was faced to make in the Garden of Gethsamane.
“Oh My Father, If this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it…….
Your Will be Done.” Matthew 26:42
In a garden long ago, the fate of mankind was decided.
The garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem had been a place of refuge and prayer for Jesus.
On the night of Christ’s arrest, this sacred ground became a place of agony and desperation. The Son of God battled with the decision to lay down His complete Will, to please the Father.
The Aramaic word “gethsemane” means “oil press’. Surely Jesus experienced the anguish of His soul.
As olives are squeezed and crushed to extract their valuable oil, so Jesus was crushed and expelled great anguish as the glands of His sweat exploded into small droplets of Blood. Medically this is called, “haematidrosis’.
It happens when fear is piled upon fear, and when an agony of suffering is laid upon an older suffering and the person can no longer sustain the pain.
(Jim Bishop- The Day Christ Died.)
Luke wrote, “His sweat became like drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.” Luke 22:24.
The blood spilled down His face as He thought of you and the price He would pay for your soul. He would have to pour out His very life to save your life.
Mark 14:33 records Christ saying, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.”
Jesus was so afflicted as He contemplated the weight of mankind’s sin, He collapsed on the ground and cried out, “Abba Father…..everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet Your will be done, not mine.” Mark 14:36.
This is the only time recorded anywhere in the bible where Christ struggled with doing the Will of God. His humanity cried these words, but His Spirit rose from the earth in utter resolve to die as a sacrifice for all sin.
In one garden, a man gave up on God. (Adam in Eden).
In another garden, God gave up everything for man.
If you doubt His love for you, don’t!
Before the Cross there must be a Gethsemane.
There in the realm of agony, Love incarnate arose. His face at peace.
With dignity He went to His destiny, death on a Cross.
©Ps. Sonia Thomas
