37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." ³⁹ 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." ⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. ⁴¹ "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Do you ever feel like we are going through the struggles of this world alone? Do you feel like your friends don’t even care and God doesn’t understand? That you’re friends aren’t really there for you because they never ask what’s going on inside of you. Do you realize that Jesus felt the same way in this passage? In this passage Jesus took 3 of his disciples with him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with him and to comfort him while his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. But even though he asked them to pray with him they fell asleep. He was alone in the physical sense but God was there with him. When we feel like all our friends have betrayed us and don’t care about what’s going on in our lives we need to remember that God is right there with us. He’ll help us through anything if we just let him. He loves us and he cares about our lives and our feelings. Don’t look at your friends and think that that is how God is. Our friends may betray us and desert us but that doesn’t mean that God has. You can always rely on God to help you through anything.

31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." ³³ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon. ³⁴ Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi. ³⁵ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!"

Do we ever try to earn God’s love? Do we think that if we do the right things and say the right things that then maybe God will love us? In Genesis 29:31 – 35 we see that the Lord blessed Leah with many children. Then in Genesis 30:1 we see that Rachel was very, very angry and that she envied her sister. Rachel thought she was competing with Leah for Jacob’s love but she forgot that Jacob had loved her unconditionally from the beginning. That’s how it is with God’s love for us. God is the best friend we could ever have. We don’t need to "earn" something we already have. God loves us! It’s so wonderful to have a friend that that will love us unconditionally. So why don’t we take his love that he so freely gives us? Always remember that love is accepted not earned. God’s word says "I love you" in so many ways. In the future let’s try to freely accept God’s love and remember that we don’t need to earn it.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. ³⁴ You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. ³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ³⁷ For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.

Do you remember when you first became a Christian? You were ready to take on the world and no matter what happened you were going to stand up for Jesus; nothing was going to take you down. But slowly over the weeks, months, and years it wasn’t as easy to stand up for Jesus. It was easier to go along with the crowd and do what they wanted to do. In Hebrews 10:32-37 it encourages us to stand up for what we believe no matter what happens. In verses 32-34 it says that in our "earlier days" we stood up to others about what we believe and we didn’t back down to suffering. Sometimes we were publicly insulted but we still didn’t back down. And when our earthly treasures were taken away we didn’t care because we know that God was a much greater treasure and He would never be taken away. In verse 35 it’s an encouragement to not lose confidence because someday we will receive the prize that God has promised (verse 36 & 37). Maybe our trials haven’t ever amounted to having our earthly possessions taken away or having to physically suffer for what we believe but the principle is still the same. No matter what happens in our life we need to look to God instead of the world. God is the main one who came help us and we need to stand up for him. When our friends are doing something we don’t quite agree with, we need to stand firm and not let them influence us. As it says in verse 36 "that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised". Let’s try to stand up for what we believe - no matter how big or small it may be.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.