"Praying at Gethsemane" by He Qi.
This post is part of a 13 day series, joining other Christian bloggers from around the world, reading together Frederick S. Leahy's classic, "The Cross He Bore".
This third chapter of Leahy's text still find us in Gethsemane.
I found this quote particularly noteworthy: "Gethsemane is not a place for hurried theological tourism: it is a where the believer must linger, watch, and pray."
It doesn't escape my notice that the disciples are all sleeping, while Christ is experiencing near death horrors.
We have also learned that, at Gethsemane, the Father has now gone silent, and the beautiful relationship between Father, and Son, has been disconnected.
Thankfully, as Christians, we will never bear this cup, but there are certainly times when we feel abandoned, scared, and all alone.
As I type this, my mind recalls friends, and family, who are currently facing health challenges, a sense of deep loss from a broken relationship, financial strife, and some with a deep sense of feeling lost in this world.
It seems that Christ has two things to teach us as we face life's challenges.
First of all, although Christ found silence from the Father, as we seem to experience, nonetheless, he was a man of prayer. The Scriptures are full of promises that the Father hears our prayers.
Secondly, we see angels dispatched from heaven to comfort the tormented Christ. I have never seen and angel, that I am aware of, but again, the Scriptures are full of examples of their ministry of comfort to us.
Today, I will purpose to pray for my friends, and family, and ask that God might attend to their prayers, send them comforting angels, make them profoundly aware of his love, and awaken a deep internal yearning to learn more of their Creator, and his desire for their lives.
