I was praying about the crucifixion this morning. Not just the moment Jesus was nailed to the cross, but all of the moments that led up to it and those that came after it. The entire Passion, from the garden of gethsemane to the closing of the tomb.
I was praying about how lengthy it was. Twenty-four hours of torture. One thing after another.
This hit me because life sometimes feels that way, doesn’t it? One thing after the other. One blow leads to another. And another.
We pray for it to end. We pray that Jesus will intervene. But sometimes He doesn’t.
Why? Because He didn’t back then, either.
Jesus was arrested, beat, spit on, crowned, whipped, forced to carry a cross, stripped, nailed, persecuted, pierced, and laid in a tomb. At any point, He could have worked a miracle and ended it all. He could have escaped the arrest, levitated above the whips, had the angels carry His cross. But He didn’t.
He is all-powerful—almighty—and yet, He chose to pray, sweat, bleed, fall, cry, fall again, fall a third time, surrender, and die.
Why? Because a miracle to end it wouldn’t have been mighty enough for our God.
He could’ve chosen not to fall. He could’ve resisted death. But those miracles don’t compare to rising from the dead. He could’ve even come down from the cross but that doesn’t compare to coming out of the grave.
This really hit me this morning as I thought about my own sort of “Passion.” I’ve been frustrated with what I thought was God’s lack of response to my prayers. But I think the the reason God hasn’t intervened yet is because I’m praying too small.
I’m praying not to be whipped and crowned, but He’s got bigger plans. He’s got a battalion of angels ready to roll away the stone. I’m praying not to be stripped of comforts, but He wants to fill me with the eternal Comforter. I’m praying He’ll take me down from this cross, but He wants to raise me up to a kind of life I’ve never known before.
But to experience those kinds of miracles takes patience. And trust.
The biggest miracles are only seen in the most desperate of times. Like the brightest light is only realized in the darkest night.
So hang on, friend. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t hear you. It’s that He loves you far too much to grant you the tiny little miracle you’re asking for. He’s got bigger things in store for you. Like resurrection power. Just keep walking towards it—even if you fall a time or two… or three.
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