Saturday 21 Jun 2008

Saturday Reading: Mark 14:32-38
 
Key Verse: Mark 14:38
38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
 
Devotion:
If ever there were a place a time that we should take notice of, it is this place and time referred to us in our bibles. Jesus took the disciples to the garden of Gethsemane so that He could pray about what was about to happen. But one of the most important things that we forget when we think of this time is the simple fact that Christ had to face up to the terrors that faced Him as a human. For a short time He had to face up to the terrors that would await by being separated from God eternally. It was enough for His souls to feel “exceeding sorrowful unto death”. It was at that time that He was taking the weight of our sins onto His shoulders so that we would not have to face that same weight on our souls when we die.
 
So bad was it that He asked God the Father if He could take away that pain, but ultimately made sure that it was God’s will that would be done and not his own feelings, no matter how bad. I know we could never imagine just how much He took on His shoulders at that time, but He was able to see at first hand just how weak we are as humans. Yes, we like to think that we can stand up to all manner of things, but in the end there is always a point after which we can take no more. Jesus realised just how easy it was to reach that point as a human and warned the disciples of that fact.
 
The way that He took care of His worries was our ultimate example which we should always follow. He took His problems to God. He opened up in prayer and placed them squarely in God’s hands. He knew as a human He could not change His position, but He knew that His human self was safe in God’s hands. That is where He got the strength to face up to more than we could imagine. That is where He got His comfort. That is where we need to seek and find ours too.
 
Points to Ponder:
Where do you turn for comfort when things go wrong?
 
Do you place your faith squarely in God’s hands?