Times may be about to become rough for those in the USA who are loyal to Jesus. The rate at which blatant, unapologetic wickedness and pure insanity have ramped up over the past four years is quite staggering. While rancor and disputes have always been a part of the political landscape in our country, there was a certain restraint of tolerance on all sides. Those somewhat congenial differences are turning into hardened conflict and a call for total allegiance or cancellation. Tensions are high. The battle lines are becoming clearer and more intense. Now, more than ever, we need to know how to equip ourselves so that our faith will not fail in the trials to come.
There are a number of good men today teaching Christians how to make their households anti-fragile economically. There are Christians who are developing new technological infrastructures that will give Christians a place in cultural conversations without being canceled by big tech. These and other efforts are all necessary for Christians to equip themselves for upcoming trials. But there is something much more basic that we all must do if we are to face trials big or small so that our faith does not fail: pray. The fundamental battle is prayer. If we make all of the other preparations but fail to pray, we will fail.
When facing the greatest test that a man has ever faced–the cross–Jesus demonstrated for us how to prepare. After leaving the upper room with his disciples, Jesus went to the Mt of Olives to pray. Luke tells us that this was his custom (Lk 22.39). Praying before going to the cross wasn’t an abnormal desperate cry at the last minute from a man who had neglected the discipline of prayer for ages but now cries out because he is in trouble. Jesus prayed regularly. He disciplined himself to pray. The Garden prayer is the culmination of a life spent in prayer.
All of his prayer life led up to this point; his greatest trial. Here, in the Garden, he teaches us how to pray in faith when facing trials: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lk 22.42).
A great amount of mystery surrounds this prayer. Jesus, the one who prophesied on a number of occasions of the necessity of his suffering and death, is now praying that somehow this cup of wrath can be removed. Jesus, the one whose will was always in perfect harmony with the Father, speaks of not his own will being done but that of the Father’s. There are some mysteries about the relationship of God the Son and God the Father that we may never comprehend.
What we have is what Jesus said, recorded by the Gospel writers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We hear the desperate cries of the eternal Son made flesh, always the object of the Father’s perfect love and pleasure, agonizing over becoming the object of everything the Father hates and enduring his wrath. His agony reaches such intensity that he sweats drops of blood (Lk 22.44). This is the trial of trials. Jesus is praying as he taught his disciples to pray, “Lead us not into testing” (Lk 11.4; 22.40, 46). Jesus is showing us the way by leading us.
There is nothing wrong with praying for escape from the trial. We are taught to do so. But what we must realize through the experience of Jesus is that praying in faith does not mean sincerely believing that God will keep us from difficult testing; that he will deliver us immediately in the way we think is best. There are those in the Christian church who teach you that if you really have faith, if you really believe, God will give you anything you want; riches, fame, immediate comfort. That is not what we learn from the relationship of Jesus and the Father.
Jesus asks the Father to let this cup pass from him. He knows that somehow his Father is able. There is no question about the power of the Father. He is able to do whatever he wills to do. There is only the question about what is best. Jesus, the Father’s Son, commits himself in faith to the love and wisdom of his Father when he prays, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Praying in faith is praying in such a way that resigns oneself to the will of God, whether that means present escape from trial or deliverance through trial. You commit yourself to the will of him who judges justly.
Years before Jesus prayed this prayer, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, give us an example of this type of faith. Standing before Nebuchadnezzar, who threatened them with his power to condemn them to the fiery furnace for their insubordination to worship his idols, the three spoke to the king one of the great statements of faith in Scripture: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Dan 3.16-18). This is faith. God is able. He may not. Either way, we will be obedient to him in not serving your gods.
Faith is not looking at situations through rose-colored glasses and believing that God will act as you desire him to act in the situation. Faith is not believing God will heal you or your loved one. Faith is knowing that he is able to heal you or your loved one, praying for that healing, but then resigning yourself to death if God wills. Faith is not believing that God will keep us from suffering as a church and “claiming it.” Faith is knowing that God is able to keep us from suffering but is willing to endure it if that is what God chooses for the church. “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
God does not always deliver us from the trials immediately, but he does give us the strength to endure them. While Jesus was praying, the Father sent an angel from heaven to strengthen his Son for the upcoming trial. He continues to send strengthening messengers today. As we gather with the church to pray, we hear God’s Word read and taught. We are encouraged by the presence and with the words of one another. We feast at his table. We do all of these things not as an escape or even believing that God will grant us escape from future trails, but as the place where we are equipped and strengthened to face whatever the will of God is for our lives. Prepare for battle by battling in prayer.
