I have this message that I have to share, and it's starting to bug me, so that means it's urgent.
When Jesus went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane the night before he was captured, he prayed all night and cried out to God--His Abba (Daddy). He prayed so fervently that he sweat drops of blood, his prayer was so intense. He, who was perfect and undeserving of anything but love and tendermercy from His Father, was about to be captured, judged, tortured and killed for sins He did not commit. He was the very righteousness of God, and he knew that what he was about to go through would be horribly painful and agonizing physically. But on an emotional and spiritual level, the agony would be even greater, for He would feel lonely, abandoned, betrayed by those who loved Him--feel the ugliness of other peoples' sins--feel how unfair it was that HE should suffer for the choices of others--and most importantly, feel something He had never felt before: His Abba turning His back. His Abba was about to forsake Him and abandon Him.
In the garden, Jesus KNEW this was going to happen. It was not deserved. It was not something He wanted to go through, but He was willing to...and He prayed to His Abba (I'm paraphrasing here): "Father, if there is ANY other way to do this, take this cup from me. But not my will, but thine be done."
Don't you think if God was EVER going to come down out of the heavens in a fiery blaze of glory to save someone, it would have been for Jesus? I mean, this was God's DEARLY BELOVED SON here!! We are talking the very righteousness of GOD!!! But He didn't. He didn't come, and He didn't take the cup from Jesus, even though Jesus didn't deserve it. He did not save Jesus from having to feel lonely, abandoned, betrayed, and forsaken. God had a bigger plan, and He knew what He was doing, and in order to accomplish that plan, Jesus had to endure suffering, trials, tribulation, torture, and death!!! HE SUFFERED!!
Now did you notice that Jesus did not say, "Well, I do not feel like God is with me anymore, therefore He must not exist" or "I don't feel God's presence so He must not be there." Nope. Jesus suffered complete abandonment by His dear Abba and still KNEW in His soul that God was there, God loved Him, God would use it for good, and God was guide and protect Him.
And did you notice that Jesus did not say, "Well, if God does not pass this cup from me, then I won't believe in Him anymore" or "I do not want to suffer so I'm gonna blame God. He has to swoop down here and save me!" or "God, I want You to come down here RIGHT NOW and save me from death, or You don't exist" or "God, if you let me die, then You can't and aren't using me anymore."
My dear brothers and sisters, God does not work like that: miracles on demand. He also does not "save" us from suffering when it can be worked for HIS good! In fact, I believe God wants us to suffer AND THANK HIM, because when we suffer, we grow closer to Him. God is God. HE knows what He is doing and we don't. Furthermore, He wants us to join Him in doing His will--and His will is to save our spouses (and us) and bring as many people as He can into intimacy with Him.
Yes, it is God's good and perfect will to have all marriages be intimate, for marriages torn asunder to be reconciled, for spouses to live in sexual exclusivity...this is all true. But as frail human beings, we do not hit that good and perfect will. And if the ultimate goal is saving souls, sometimes God will let us suffer, feel lonely, feel abandoned, feel betrayed, and feel forsaken. God required Jesus to lay down His life and be abandoned by His Abba; and Jesus surrendered His will to His Father's. "Not my will, but thine be done."
Jesus SURRENDERED. That means He didn't want to be beat up by those Roman guards in the garden--or abandoned by his disciples--or purged by the Roman soldiers--or crucified. He wanted to live and be with His FATHER!! But Jesus SURRENDERED what He wanted and allowed Himself to be broken in order to accomplish God's will.
Hello!!
Surrendering to God means taking what YOU want (I want my marriage healed and I want it NOW!), laying it down, taking your hands off it, backing away from it, and then completely giving it to Him. Let Him do with it as He pleases--because He will. Surrender means letting God have your marriage if that is what He requires of you and what you and/or your spouse need in order to save your souls! Surrender means not handcuffing God with YOUR will and YOUR timing and YOUR limitations--but letting God be free to work in His way. Okay...I know...He's God, so how can we handcuff Him? Well, we can not PREVENT Him from doing His will (I believe He is God and will get it done somehow) but we can sure be a roadblock--a stumblingblock--in His way rather than helping!
Finally, my brothers and sisters, this is my own personal bias, but I hear so many people coming on here desperate for God to reconcile their marriages...and I understand that desperation having been there myself, yet I think (and this is just my opinion here) that we so tightly bind and limit God by thinking that the ONLY way He can work is if He saves that marriage. Yes, I really do believe that is His ideal. But no, I do not believe that is the ONLY way He can work...and sometimes, for a while especially, it is not the best way to work! I personally feel fairly upset when people act like God is abandoning them if their marriage ends. Does that mean that you think God stopped being with ME when MY marriage ended?? And what if your spouse died rather than divorced you--would God stop working in your life then since you had no spouse? NO???? Well then why do you think He would stop working now???
We are believers. We are called to faithfulness, caring, hope, and most of all LOVE. We have a duty to live lives that demonstrate forgiveness and mature love--so boldly that the world can see us and wonder "What was that??" This is our OBLIGATION! So, if you are living a life of faithfulness to your unfaithful spouse--if you are living a life of hope and forgiveness--if you are living a life of God's Love for your spouse, then you are doing what God wants you to do. Just keep doing His will. If you feel lonely, afraid, betrayed, and forsaken think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane...remind yourself that we are not ruled by our emotions...and DO what God wants you to do (be loving).
If you keep doing what God wants you to do, and you treat your spouse lovingly and respectfully and honestly, and the divorce still goes through, it was God's will for a season. I don't know why. He needed you to suffer because souls need to be saved--and I don't see the whole big picture, but HE DOES! So surrender to Him TONIGHT.
CJ
