Gethsemanes of Life
The word Gethsemane means “oil press.” It represents those places of deep, pressing pain and mental agony!
I recently read an article in the Pentecostal Evangel by the title of “Hard Times” By Charles R. Swindoll, on page 18, February 20, 2005 issue and the following really stood out:
“There is no place more alone than one’s own Gethsemane.”
“But there are personal Gethsemanes you must walk through completely alone. You’ll always feel a deep loneliness while you’re getting through the tough stuff of pain. That’s when Christ will be there. Your best friends may fail you. Some will try to understand, but often they can’t. A few frankly, will forget you. Some may turn against you. In the agony of your need for relational support, you’ll have all you need with Christ.”
“You will find Him at those times closer than a brother. I know. He has met me in my own Gethsemanes, and He will do so again and again and yet again.”
As I read this article there was much I could identify with. I can truly say that in the Gethsemanes of my life over the last three years that the Lord has been that friend that has indeed been closer than a brother. He has carried me through every battle, every struggle, every defeat. He has been there without fail, to bring me through. Even when I could not see with the natural eye, He was there.
To know that He will be with us through the hard times gives us a peace that transcends anything of this world. It is indeed in the Gethsemanes of life that we truly learn to know our Father, our Lord. To become intimate in His word, in His presence and in His Spirit.
I want to encourage you my friends to remember that as you are in those times of “Gethsemane” to remember that you have a friend, that He is with you as walk through these hard times and that He will, not might, bring you through, even as He has brought me through the times of pressing in my life.
We are a people of hope, of faith and we have an advocate with our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ who will bring us through as we lay hold of Him with all that we are and to know that He will be with us in the “Gethsemanes of life.”
Till later,
Paul