The journey to the Cross passes through Gethsemane. It is a valley in the shadow of deep darkness. But as Psalm 23 exhorts us, He is with us there—closely beside us and guiding us through. May you be strengthened and encouraged by His sovereign presence in your own Gethsemane.
When the chief priests, temple officers and elders came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, they succeeded only because a sovereign God permitted them to succeed. Jesus pointed out that He was teaching daily in the Temple, yet they never laid a finger on Him. Now they were after Him with swords and staves. “But this is your hour and the power of darkness is yours” (Luke 22:53, Phillips). Who gave them that hour? Who allowed them the power to capture Him? It was God, without whose leave not even a sparrow can fall to the ground. God is omnipotent, never slumbering, just, righteous and forever in control. He was not taken by surprise. All was working then, as it is always working, into a pattern for good.
Our own difficulties often appear to be random. Our tragedies look wildly uncontrolled. They are not. They are subject. Limits are set. God is quietly at work, standing in the shadows, ceaselessly watching over His children.
The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it (John 1:5).
**Except originally published in A Lamp Unto My Feet, p. 135-136