In The Darkness

In the Darkness

Stay here and keep watch with me.

Matthew 26:38

IN WORD His soul was overwhelmed to the point of death. And even though He felt pretty lonely, He was by no means alone. He had the fellowship of the Father and, as much as they could give Him, the fellowship of the disciples. In the most pivotal, excruciating moment of His mission, Jesus invited others into it.

We, too, have been called on a mission that will take us to some pretty dark places. We are promised a banquet in the end, with feasting and fellowship and all the bright, warm things we humans enjoy. It will be a great celebration with our God when the Son returns in glory. But there are dark, lonely gardens first—struggles in the dead of night and anxieties over the cup of suffering. In our mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth and to see the glory of God shine everywhere, we will have hard times. Jesus even promised His disciples that they would have tribulation. He told them He would always be with them; but would they always stay with Him? Going with Him on His victorious mission is one thing; staying with Him at midnight in the garden is another. That’s where faith is truly tested.

Mentally put yourself where those disciples were. After all, Jesus’ mission still has pivotal moments, and it can still be excruciating. If you were with Him in a dark, lonely garden, and He turned to you and said, “Stay here and keep watch with me,” would you? Could you? Do you have any desire to abide with Him in this painful, costly program of redemption?

IN DEED Of course you do. We all do. He has put His Spirit into us and made us His co-laborers. He has called us to carry this heavy cross and to die daily. He has told us that we must lose our lives for His sake or else lose them altogether. And, amazingly, He has promised an enormous victory celebration for those who will stay with Him in the darkest moments of the mission. For better and for worse, we and the Savior are in this mission together—even in the dark of Gethsemane.

By suffering the Father would lead us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.

—ANDREW MURRAY