Gethsemane was the place of crushing.
Situated at the bottom of the Mount of Olives, locals would come to extract oil under the giant wheels of the crushing stones there.
With the scent of olive oil heavy in the air, Jesus came before God with a soul overwhelmed with sorrow.
He held back nothing.
He was brutally honest.
He cried out in utter distress until the crimson drops of blood appeared on His forehead within the shadows of Gethsemane garden.
Mark 14:33-34 tells us that, “He took Peter, Jacob, and John with him. An intense feeling of great horror plunged his soul into deep sorrow. And he said to them, ‘My heart is overwhelmed with anguish and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” (NIV)
Gethsemane is still the place of crushing for you and me.
It is the kind of prayer where we go before God and hold back nothing.
It is the place where we can be brutally honest with Jesus, the One who knows how it feels. Gethsemane is the place to plead for courage to stay faithful, like Jesus did, until all is finished.
It is the ground of prayer that we can pour out the bitter taste of fear and dread to.
My friend, you don’t have to “hold back” your sorrow and fear from God. In fact, He is the only One who is able to fully receive it.
God’s love, embodied in Jesus, didn’t turn away from pain but entered into it.
Jesus faced it, bore it and surrendered fully to it so you and I could have full access to the Father for this very reason.