Christian Reflection and Prayer

"My Soul is Troubled"

Lenten Devotion

"And (Jesus said) "'Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say?
'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour'" (John 12:27).

Read John 12:27-33.

Jesus has just told His disciples why He has come to Jerusalem:
He is to suffer and die for the world. But the thought is not easy for
Jesus to face. He says, "Now is My soul troubled." We see that
turmoil again when He falls on His face in agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane (see Luke 22).

Here He prays, "Father, glorify Your Name." He doesn't ask the
Father to save Him from the cross but to use His suffering and
death on the cross to glorify His Name. He wants people to look
at the cross and believe that "God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son." In Gethsemane God will send an angel to
strengthen His Son, but here He speaks to Jesus. "I have glorified
it, and I will glorify it again."

We all come face to face with overwhelming situations and
struggles in life -- heartbreak and loss, grief beyond telling, the
shadow of death -- whether our own or that of a loved one.

Jesus has come to this hour in His life to be the answer to the
overwhelming situations in each of our lives. He will be raised up
to draw all men to Himself. This was done so that in Jesus Christ
each of us might find the answer to our problems, the courage for
the trials we face and the victory over Satan who brought all these
situations upon us through his temptation.

THE PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, You glorified Your Name in the sufferings of Your
beloved Son Jesus Christ. Glorify Your Name through me as You
give me strength and courage to face the difficult times in my life.
I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Written by Rev. Wayne Palmer