“I come to the garden alone….” This hallowed hymn always strums an emotional chord deep within me. It beckons me to that place of sweet delight with the Lover of my soul. “And the joy we share, as we tarry there, none other can ever know.” It is there that we enter the Holy of Holies and adore the One Who redeemed us by His blood. It is there where He whispers to us words of love. It is there that we know His warm embrace and the “kisses of His mouth”. But beyond the joy of sitting at His feet, there is a place of sorrow, too. There can also be agony in this garden.
At that Last Supper, Jesus spoke to His disciples: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) With whom do we share our burdens, our cares? Certainly not with someone who will use it as fodder at their next gossip session. We share our intimate feelings with a friend and confidant, someone who can be trusted with the treasures of our heart. So, Our Lord Jesus shares His thoughts with those who have nurtured a close, trusting friendship with Him.
On whose shoulder would you cry and pour out the disappointments and sorrows of your heart? Again, those sorrows would be shared with someone who was a safe haven, someone compassionate and comforting, and sometimes someone with wisdom for a solution. Certainly, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and fills all these needs for us when we approach God in prayer. But do you consider that the Lord might also long to share His sorrows with you? Does He have your ear to hear?
THE GRIEF OF GOD
Could God Almighty and Omnipotent even know sorrow? Ephesians 4:30 admonishes us not to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”. Yes, God knows grief. Yet ponder on this: Only one who loves can know grief because grief is heartache. God loves much and loves perfectly. Be assured, His heart breaks over the sufferings of His people.
Can you not hear grief in His voice over His people turning away from Him, their Faithful Maker and Provider, to idols? “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. My people…” Hear the heartache in those words, “My people”! “My people ask counsel from their wooden idols…” (Nowadays more likely wooden Ouija boards, astrology charts and psychics) “For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God.” (Hosea 4:11-12) Oh, how the Lord is grieved over the spiritual adultery of His people! Hear His anguish: “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.” (Hosea 6:4) Hear Him pleading: “O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take word with you, and return to the Lord…” (Hosea 14:1) O how the Lord wants His misguided people to return to Him! Hear the never-ending love in His words: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely…” (Hosea 14:a) [Italics mine]
The sins of His people grieve the Lord because He knows that “sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:15) Jesus wept over the physical death of His friend Lazarus. He weeps as well over the spiritually dead – those separated from Him Who is Life. He weeps over lost sheep. He weeps over brothers murdering brothers with their tongues. He weeps over Jerusalem.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERING
Will you weep with Him? Do we only want to rejoice with Him? Are we no more than fair-weather friends? Are we willing to mourn with Him as well? Would we imitate Paul? He wrote:
“But I indeed also count all things loss for the excelllence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (Phil 3:8-10)
Oh, we want to know the “power of His resurrection” but are we willing to enter the “fellowship of His sufferings”? Are we willing to lay down our lives and be “conformed to His death”?
On a small scale, we can enter into the “fellowship of His sufferings” through intercession. In Spirit-led intercession, we lay down our lives for others and for the brethren. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)
Because the Greek word translated “lives” in this text is “psuche” meaning “soul”, I believe that it indicates more than physically dying, but actually living our lives and being for others. Jesus lived not pursuing His own personal agenda, but only doing what He saw the Father doing which led ultimately to His laying down His body to die on the cross. But before that, He lived a life of dying to self, and lived giving of Himself to others.
How small in comparison is our sacrifice! Even in intense intercession, the grief we know is but a fraction of His! For so great is the mercy and love of Our Lord that we could not carry the weight of His burden if He were to place the whole thrust of His anguish upon us! However deeply grieved we are over the injustice and evil in this world, His grief is greater because His love is greater. When His children suffer, the Father suffers.
When we enter the “fellowship of His suffering”, we learn the Father’s heart. It has been in sharing the Lord’s grief with Him in wailing and weeping that I have glimpsed the height, depth, and width of His love. Who sheds rivers of tears over that which is not dear to one’s heart? The Lord displays His passion for us when His Spirit weeps. “The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26) That Spirit lives in us! That Spirit will intercede through us, if we yield to Him. The Greek word for “intercession” here adds the prefix “hyper”, indicating “exceedingly abundant intercession”! Certainly, Paul is not implying any half-hearted prayer but prayer that is most fervent! And yes, it can get so intense, that it is unuttered!
When Jesus cried with agony of soul in Gethsemane, the Scripture records “And His sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground.” What hyper-intercession He must have endured! This was after He had already prayed “not My will, but Yours be done” and an angel had appeared to strengthen Him. (Luke 22:42-44) Yet then His weeping intensifies! It is my personal belief that Jesus prayed not only for the supernatural strength needed to endure the obvious imminent ordeal of the cross, but that He also agonized over US! Did He pray for the “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision?” Did He pray for the “captives to be set free”? Did He pray for people to be “translated from the kingdom of darkness into His glorious light”? Did He look down through the halls of time and anguish over our trials and temptations and plead and moan on our behalf? Hebrews 12:2 states that Jesus “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross”. We, the Redeemed of the Lord, are that very joy that was set before Him! Paul referred to those who came to Christ through his ministry as his “joy, or crown of rejoicing”. (1 Thes 2:19) How much more are we the joy and crown of Our Lord!! He bore the cross and absorbed the wrath of God upon Himself for us so that we could one day stand before His throne of loving grace!
COME TO GETHSEMANE
We are called to be Christ-like. God beckons us to “Gethsemane” which means “oil press”. There the precious oil can be pressed out. Indeed, hyper-intercession can feel that way. But He will not put on us more than we can bear. May we follow Christ and whole-heartedly surrender ourselves to this priestly ministry! May we pray the Master’s heart for the Israel of God! May we know the privilege of weeping with the Lord!
So the delight of the garden may for a brief time yield to the agony in the garden. But, this, too, shall pass and, suddenly, the weeping is over and the torrent of tears subsides. The Lord’s Presence is strong and sweet. He has shared with you His hurting heart and you have been plunged into the depths of His compassion and mercy. You wonder at His ardent desire for us and stand in awe of the God who is wholly, holy love!
(c) HIM/CAVenable 1996,2011
Carolyn Anne Venable