Luke 22:41-42 ( NKJV )
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Yesterday we looked at Abraham as an example of a surrendered life. Hebrews 11 says that he obeyed God, but that he went no knowing where he was going. He trusted God to the extent that he surrendered control over his future to Him. This is difficult for us. We like to be at the steering wheel of the car more than being the passenger. A life surrendered to God must be able to give Him control. When we do that, we will find that He knows the destination and the best route for us to take. Surrender leads to final victory.
The greatest example we have of surrender is Jesus. His whole life was surrendered to God. As and adult He didn’t have a family, a career or a home that we know of. Everything He did was according to the will and purpose of the Father. He said, “I do what the Father does and I speak what I hear from the Father.” His life was never his own. We need to understand, however, that Jesus did have a choice. He was not “preprogrammed” to respond that way. He chose to. How do we know this? The above prayer confirms it.
Jesus has faced many things in His 3 year ministry. It began with a wilderness encounter with Satan himself. I have been tempted by many things but I have never warranted the attention of Satan. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and overcame. He was opposed in His ministry and overcame. He encountered sickness and disease and overcame them. He cast out devils, he resisted the Pharisees brand of wisdom and prevailed. He had won every battle, every attack of the enemy to this point had failed. In Gethsemane things are different. Here he must choose not to fight back.
Jesus understood why He was born. He knew what God would accomplish through His sacrifice, but that did not make it easier. He was the divine Son of God, but He was also the human Son of Man. He did not want to go through the suffering before Him. Some would say that this would diminish Him, but I believe it is just the opposite. Jesus didn’t want to obey God. He didn’t want to surrender. I can understand that and it makes me know He can understand me.
In all the other trials Jesus was active. Surrender often involves our being passive. I hate to wait. I am like most other Americans. I want things right away. I am part of a TV generation where all problems can be solved in 1 hour or less and that’s including commercials. I don’t want to wait weeks, months or years for God to provide what I need. When I am waiting there is little I can do. The battle is the Lords not mine.
Jesus faced much more than waiting, but in the same way He could not resist. He was left to believe that God would cause Him to be victorious in the end. The prospect of what He had to go through to get there was something He did not want in Himself. His words are clear. “If it could possibly fit into your will for me not to go through this, that would be great.” How many times have we said this to God.
I would rather not have to go through difficult things. I would rather not have to wait. I would rather not have to surrender my will in favor of God’s. There must be some other way, God. I am sure we can figure out something that will give me what I want without this difficult circumstance. Jesus felt that way too, but His answer did something that guaranteed eventual victory. “God, even though I don’t want this trial, I choose your will above my own. What you want is what I will do.”
With that statement Jesus closed any and all back doors in his life. You see when we don’t surrender fully to God we leave back doors open. We reserve the right to a little sin if things get too bad. We trust God but we want to keep our options open. “I want your will God, but I have an alternative just in case your way is a little to hard or too slow.” When the back door is open we will never fully go through the front door.
In my home the word “divorce” had never been mentioned in relation to our marriage. We have had a great marriage for nearly 38 years. There has never been a need to think about divorce, but I believe part of the reason this is the case is that we closed the back door in the beginning. We surrendered to God as well as to one another. There has always been only one option and that is to work out differences and find ways to agree. Period.
As long as we keep back doors open the devil has an avenue to bring doubt. Once the back door is closed there is no place for him to gain traction in our lives. One way to close back doors is to surrender to the Word of God. What it says is what I am. What it prohibits I will not do. When that is settled in our hearts there is no place for the devil to enter into discussion. This is what Jesus used during the wilderness temptation and I believe knowing what the Word of God said concerning the will of God helped Him in Gethsemane as well.
When Jesus left the garden He was at complete peace. Throughout the rest of the time leading up to His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus is the calm in the midst of the storm. He is in complete control of the situation. Why? He was surrendered. All back doors were closed. The outcome was absolutely established because Jesus” path was absolutely clear.
Is there some area in your life where you have allowed a back door? Close it today. Whatever area you are holding back in case God doesn’t come through, give to God. Whatever temptation you are allowing to stay in your life just it case things get too difficult, release it to God. Whatever doubt that may be there that God does not care enough for you to see you through the current difficulty, let go of it and close that back door. God will not fail you.
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