Mark 14:41-42

“And he came the third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?  It is enough; the hour has come.  The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.’”

Do you worry?  Does anxiety, regret, and fear stalk your sleep and at times rob you of confidence and peace?  It’s been my experience that this is always the case with every Christian, to one degree or another.  God has, indeed, written eternity upon our hearts, but not in a way that we can ever – being mere mortals – ever perceive what can come after us.  This is true now as it was then and forever shall be in this age under the sun.  

We can take solace in two things, though.  

First, we see that the disciples, despite having our Lord with them, able to touch Him and speak with Him, were still unable to discern the moments.  Life’s tumult still took them by surprise and, like us, they fretted and worried that circumstances would turn against them at any instant.  Remember them in the boat, rocked by a storm, taking on water in the black of the night, and how they feared for their lives.  Aren’t they like us?  Don’t we succumb to dread in our life’s storms too?  But they go and get Jesus and so should we.  The storm took them by surprise precisely because they expected all to be well – always – and this isn’t a logical – or Biblical – expectation.  We share this irrational expectation.  

It’s terrible because it sets us on edge and assures that we’re always off-guard when trouble comes.  Weren’t the disciples sleeping instead of staying on guard that night in the garden?  And isn’t our own flesh constantly dragging down the spirit too?  The Bible never promises Christians an absence of trouble here under the sun.  Where does this foolish notion come from but from the devil and the flesh?  Yes, all things will work together for our good but this isn’t to say that all things will always be comfortable.  Evil days and unhappy events will at different times catch us.  But, still, God promises that we will never be broken by them.  

So, we struggle with our worries and anxieties.  So did the disciples and they lived with Jesus for three earthly years.  The truth is that it simply isn’t given to us to know times and seasons and we should altogether stop trying.  If they (the disciples) didn’t know, we won’t know either.  

This brings us to our second joyous consideration: Jesus is not surprised.  Look at Him in the garden.  He says, “see, my betrayer is at hand.”  He isn’t blindsided by the events.  What can calm our souls, quiet our fears, and extinguish the fires of worry more surely than knowing and trusting God’s sovereignty?  Jesus is unlike any you will ever know.  Not once do we see Him taken up by life’s events.  He knows fully well the path at every step and is prepared to meet every situation.  This is the antidote to the overly emotional Christian who swings to and fro; Christ knows all, is above all, and is never off His glorious throne.  When a storm arises out of the dark you have Him to run to and you know, like Jesus in the garden, that whatever God chooses for you will be ultimately good.  

Though He might slay us, still we are to praise and trust Him.  This is faith; this is true peace.  And we know that our circumstances, though they might master us for the moment, have met their match in our Lord.  Though we might lose all here and now, we revel in the knowledge that Christ went willingly to the cross and triumphed over it.  He didn’t go against His will for none could have prevailed against Him.  No, He went for the joy set before Him – so that He might be the firstborn among all who believe and put their trust in Him.  That He was raised from the dead should forever quiet us in moments of pain, rejection, and fear.  God hasn’t momentarily taken a coffee  break and lost track of us.  He doesn’t need a Plan B because His plan is never frustrated no matter how it looks to us.  

And, still, look again at this sequence of events.  Jesus is bold even in the face of his betrayer and pending execution because He’s been in prayer and taken His petitions to the Father.  If we are ever to find true solace as Christians we must be praying Christians that know the Word.  If we pray but don’t know His Word then we pray in blindness to a God we don’t know.  Remember: the disciples ran to Him when they were scared and we should run to the Scriptures.  There’s a great mistake we ought to steer clear of and that’s seeking the blessings of the Lord but not the Lord.  Indeed, the Lord is our portion; knowing and following Him is blessedness.  Too often, though, we end up relying on things and experiences rather than God.  In such cases hardships are sure to abound since He disciplines those He loves and hardship is meant in many cases to wean the Christian off of reliance on the world.  

The man or woman of the Lord, though, rests assured in the storms; they can say, “my heart isn’t troubled or afraid.”  And this isn’t their own doing, by their own power; this isn’t human grit or effort but simple and beautiful faith in the Lord.  We’ll have no rest and no peace until and unless we have Him and His life-giving word.