Tag: grief

Prayer, Its Use and Abuse

Posted on by Gordon Rumford

“My Father,
if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away
unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”
Matthew 26:42

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As we ponder this prayer by Jesus we are seeing Him make a request and then qualify it with an expressed submission to the Father at the end. Why did Jesus make this request? Was He opposed to the horrors ahead of Him?

The ending to His prayer indicates His submission to whatever the Father had for Him to endure. What the problem was, is understood as being the dreadful fact that He had to have our sins laid on His holy person.

He had already said to the disciples in Gethsemane,

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Forever joyful

Posted on by Gordon Rumford

“Your grief will turn joy…and no one will take away your joy” John 16;20, 22.

When our daughter tells her 18 month old son he is going to Gramma and Grandpa’s house he gets all excited. He loves us nd we make suitable fusses over him each time he appears on our doorstep. We have dogs he also loves, toys he enjoys playing with and of course treats for him to eat.

Yet, for all that, if his mother leaves without him, there are tears for a moment. He is most happy when his mother is present. She is his supreme love and security in life. I tease my daughter by saying that some day another woman will come along and he will end up loving her more than his mother. Then he will marry and move out to be with the one he loves the most.

In our verse today, Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. He indicates that by leaving them He will cause them to weep and mourn. He has assured them that His departure is for their benefit John 15:7, 13-14. They will be truly blessed by the coming of the Holy Spirit Who will guide them into all truth and glorify Jesus.

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Prayer, its use and abuse

Posted on by Gordon Rumford

“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.” Matt. 26:42

As we ponder this prayer by Jesus we are seeing Him make a request and then qualify it with an expressed submission to the Father at the end. Why did Jesus make this request? Was He opposed to the horrors ahead of Him? The ending to His prayer indicates His submission to whatever the Father had for Him to endure. What the problem was, is understood as being the dreadful fact that He had to have our sins laid on His holy person.

He had already said to the disciples in Gethsemane, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Matt. 26:38. Our way of saying it might be, “The situation is killing me.” But in Jesus’ case the situation actually did kill Him. No person in history has suffered to the extent Jesus did.

God certainly allows us to come in our misery and ask Him to remove the pain or the source of our grief. We know that such extreme crises as the death of a loved one cannot be reversed in this life. However there is hope in many difficulties of life that the problem may go away if God chooses to give us relief. For this reason we come and ask for relief.

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