Being Faithful during Frustration

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53 KJV

"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:41-44 KJV

Isaiah 53 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible as it discusses what would be Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His innocence. As I read this chapter one day, I took a moment to discuss with God and was reminded of Luke 22:41-44.

Jesus was faithful when it hurt to be faithful. We should at least try and follow His example. He prayed that if this were possible he would not have to go through with this. He made His request known, however, whatever the Lord willed. He is the example of what we should be doing. We owe Him our life and we owe Him faithfulness. He was faithful even when it was difficult.

He knew He was going back home to Heaven to sit on the right hand of God, that He would not spend an eternity in Hell. He knew that everything was going to be okay. It didn't matter that the pain was only going to last for a few hours. It didn't matter. It didn't matter that it was only going to be a short period of time. It's agonizing. In the same way, we don't know how long we'll have to endure pain and suffering nor do we always know what the end result will be. But here's the thing, He knew that it wasn't going to last long and He still didn't want to do it. He knew the time frame. He knew He had to be hung and that He was going to die. He also knew that He was going to rise again on the third day. Do you think that we would be willing to die even if we knew that we were going to rise again on the 3rd day? We may say "well I know I'm going to rise again on the 3rd day, I'm not tripping" but the more we are persecuted and the closer we get to our death, we'd be saying something different. Nobody wants to die or have nails pierced into their hands. The worst I've experienced is a whooping or stubbing a toe or a 1st-degree burn while cooking in the kitchen. Nails were placed through His hands and feet and He was stabbed in the side. They placed a crown of thorns on His head. We don't like headaches now but He likely had the worst headache of us all. Although, people do have serious pain. He endured excruciating pain from His head to His hands, to His side, to His feet, to also having to keep His arms raised. Knowing what was coming He still prayed, nevertheless, that God's will be done. It didn't make it better that He knew He was going to rise on the 3rd day. It didn't make it better that He knew He was at least going back to Heaven and it would be over in about 3 days. It didn't matter, it was still something that He didn't want to do. 

So the next time I'm trying to encourage a person and say, "You know what, it's going to be over before you know it", I'll think twice about it. Sometimes that does help but sometimes it doesn't. Jesus agreed. He was in agony and He prayed so earnestly that He sweat blood. This shows us how bad it was and how much His soul was grieved. He was going to be beaten and accused and persecuted. It weighed on Him as a human. I'm sure it weighed on God also because these were His people and they just didn't get it. It's not always as simple as knowing God is going to do it. Sometimes it's not going to go as smoothly as we would like.

Jesus understands how we feel. He knows what it feels like to not want to go through with something even when you know your Father in Heaven is going to work it out and it will all be over in a matter of time. Even throughout the process, He didn't curse them or speak anything against them. He took one soul with Him and also said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". This is an example of His grace and mercy. He was focused on the mission. God basically said 'I still need you to do this Son' and Jesus said okay and went forth with it. I would like to think that He didn't question it anymore after this. He completed the mission from a place of compassion. So the next time that I'm going through something, I want to remember that He was faithful when it was difficult to be faithful. I'm not Jesus but I'm encouraged by His word to have a mind like Him and to be holy as He is holy. So if I'm encouraged to have a mind like Him and His mind was to be faithful, then my mind needs to be to attempt to be as faithful as possible. 

It's okay to say "God I don't want to do this but thy will be done". It doesn't negate it because we're expressing how we feel. Throughout frustration, we still need to be faithful. How do we do this? Pray in God's will. Stay in alignment with what God wants. Don't give up and walk away. Trust God despite what it looks like. Don't give up on God because He's not giving up on you. Trust that if He has you in this, then it's for a reason. There was a reason God still asked Jesus to go through with this. It didn't mean that Jesus was going to like it and it didn't mean that it was going to be easy. He knew who He was. He had the power to change the circumstances right then and there but He was being obedient to God. He allowed this to happen to him. He understood His purpose. 

If Jesus can be faithful knowing He was about to die, I can be faithful in a simple task by reading my word, for example. We can be faithful to go through things and say "not my will but God's will" and not go after our own agenda. Jesus is our example. He is the Son of God but He was also made flesh. We are to have a mind like Christ and He is our example. We are supposed to look to Him and God for our examples. The apostles and these stories are here for a reason. They are our instructions and the way He responded to people is the way we should respond to people. So for those going through and trying to remain faithful. Jesus understands what you're going through. For everyone saying "Lord, I don't want to do this" and "Lord, I'm not sure about this", Jesus understands. Although you know God's going to do it and you believe it, doesn't mean you still want to go through the rough patch. For example, if God says "your child is going to be sick but I'm going to heal them". Does this mean you'll be all smiles the entire time your child is going through? Absolutely not. No one wants to see their child in the hospital or hooked up to needles. Just because you know your baby is going to be healed doesn't completely make the process better. It does help some because you at least know what the end result will be. However, we question what God has spoken because things don't look like what He spoke. We have to remember that His word does not return unto Him void. His word will prosper where He sends it (Isaiah 55:11). What He said is going to come to pass. We have to trust Him. Sometimes we lose sight of the promise and we lose hope because it looks rough and it's been difficult. Sometimes we get to a point where we're not sure if we believe God will do it anymore. This is a part of the process. Jesus understands the frustration and the pain and He will be there to ease your pain. God is using the process for His glory. Stay encouraged by God's word and stay faithful. 

God Bless You and I hope this has been an inspirational seed for your soul. 🌼