“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. … And having been perfected …” (Hebrews 5:7-9)
These verses describe what Jesus went through when He went to the cross as our High Priest to offer up the sacrifice of His own blood and life (Matt. 26:36-46; Lk. 22:43-44). Never think that this wasn’t extremely difficult for Jesus. His flesh didn’t want to go through this any more than your flesh would want to go through that. There was never a time Jesus wasn’t obedient to the Father, but through suffering He learned deeper and deeper levels of obedience (see Luke 2:52). We can either respond to suffering by pulling away from God or by drawing closer to God, trusting God and allowing God to further refine us. How are you responding to your suffering? Are you withdrawing from God or learning deeper levels of obedience?