36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Matthew 26:36-46
There are times and moments in our lives that we feel our prayers go unanswered. There are situations we feel we need our prayers to be answered and we want solutions at our demand. But are we ready for the answers that God has prepared? Most of us will pray, and most of the time, there aren’t any audible or tangible answers that come to us in the form of some sort of revelation.
In Matthew 26, even for Jesus, there are three moments of utter silence. It even says that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (v.38). Jesus was desperate for God’s intervention from what was about to come. But there is absolutely no answer to his cry.
There are many of us who have experienced such a silence, and let me tell you that it is not a very encouraging experience. It is painful and a struggle to get through those moments and we can often feel like we are left in the dust by God. We may read this passage thinking that the Father may be cruel and a masochist for letting his Son die in the way he did after this event – but there is something else to this passage that we see through Jesus’ words and actions. The Father’s silence was not because he was not listening or had no answer, but rather because God was working to save us – even in that very moment.
Jesus says two prayers in Gethsemane:
1. “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (v.39) – Jesus asked the Father to spare him from the pain of the event, but surrendered to the outcome. Our prayers often begin with our requests to God with faith, but either contain or end with expectations of the outcome.
2. “if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (v.42) – Jesus was willing to go through whatever pain, endure in patience, and trust in the Father’s plan. It is hard for us to do this very thing when all seems like it has gone amuck or about to go sour. But even in the most painful moments, God is already planning our rescue and redemption. Jesus rose again from the dead, and made a way for us through his own suffering.
Even in our suffering and when all seems like it has gone to the worst it could go, God is still at work. Today, continue to submit to the Lord in prayer no matter how painful the event could be. When all is done, and the season has passed, that is when God’s glory and redemption will begin to shine. Prayer requires of us to be trusting in the Father’s plans, and that even in the most bitter of silence, we can choose to trust in Him that he is quietly at work to show you His glory.
T H E O P H I L U S 
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