Are You Overwhelmed?

This article is excerpted from the Bible study, Overwhelmed: Winning the War Against Worry.

Are you in need of a miracle?

We all reach a point where we realize our limited human capacity is maxed out and we need help. Fortunately, our Father is in control, even when we feel that everything is wildly spinning out of control.

Only God can turn a mess into a miracle. And we've seen Jesus pray in the middle of the mess for the miracle on the other side. Because Jesus prayed, prayer should be our starting point also. Jesus was fully God and fully human. His experience in the garden of Gethsemane is an excellent picture of both of those realities. There we see Jesus under incredible stress.

When Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but yours," it wasn't a generic statement saying, "Do whatever You want because You're God, and I'll be OK with that." Jesus wasn't afraid to ask for what He wanted. He wasn't leaving Himself an out in case God didn't answer the prayer the way He wanted. Jesus was God. He knew exactly what was ahead. He knew the hour was near for betrayal, beating, crucifixion, and spiritual separation from God under the crushing weight of our sin and death. That was the will of God. That was the way God was bringing peace to people everywhere. God's plan was bigger than just Jesus' desires in that moment, and He knew it.

Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but yours" because He trusted His Heavenly Father.

Jesus knew He was only hours way from the most intense physical and spiritual burden possible. His pain was unimaginable. Jesus was facing God's holy wrath, taking all human sin on Himself at the cross. He was about to willingly experience the punishment for our sin and be separate from God for the first and only time in all of history. Jesus was taking the full weight of our guilt and shame on Himself.

Because Jesus was fully human, He can identify with us in every way. While on earth, He faced temptations, trials, and suffering of every kind (see Hebrews 4:14-16). He endured sorrow, stress, and even being overwhelmed.

"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.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.'

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.'

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. 'Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?' he asked Peter. 'Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'

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.'

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

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. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!'" Matthew 26:36-46 (NIV).

This is intense language. Have you ever prayed that hard?

You know how hard it is sometimes to put everything you're feeling into words? The same thing can be true when reading the Bible. The emotional power of the original language can literally get lost in translation. For example, this part of the Bible was first written in Greek. The work perilypos in Matthew 26:38 is translated the following ways in our English Bibles.

• "Overwhelmed with sorrow" (NIV)

• "Very sorrowful" (ESV)

• "Deeply grieved" (NASB)

• "Crushed with grief" (NLT)

• "Swallowed up in sorrow" (HCSB)

Wow. A lot of emotion is packed into that little word. Jesus was overwhelmed with, crushed with, very full of, and swallowed up in deeply intense feelings.

We can identify with that kind of emotion. We've all felt completely overwhelmed in every way. It's encouraging to know these feelings aren't a sign of weakness or failure. After all, Jesus was perfect and completely obedient to His Father, yet He reached a point of being overwhelmed.

Jesus was overwhelmed, so don't beat yourself up for feeling you've reached the end of your rope. Follow Him through your stress.

When it comes to prayer, important may not be a strong enough word. We desperately need prayer when we're overwhelmed.

Notice that Jesus prayed by Himself. He found a place to be alone, undisturbed, and focused on getting brutally honest with God.