Reflecting on Matthew 26:36-46.
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” (Matthew 26:39)
As a follower of Jesus, I can relate to this prayer.
There have been many times when I’ve prayed, ‘God, please, no!’
Sometimes the Father does take the cup away.
But many times I had to drink the cup anyway.
Recently I prayed hard about a job… and God said no.
Then another job I did not think possible became a yes.
I didn’t pray about it the same, because I didn’t think it was possible.
With God the possibilities are well beyond what we can ask or imagine.
What Jesus prays for is not trivial.
He is pleading to avoid the excruciating horror of the cross.
I would pray the same, and still do.
Yet I also want to learn to pray the other part of Jesus’s prayer.
“Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)
I can’t explain how God could ‘will’ something like the cross.
So many people experience excruciating misery in this world.
I do not believe this is God’s will, not what God intended at all.
Yet God does seem to allow us the freedom of choice and consequence.
Not only for us, but for others, and they may choose to be cruel.
Somehow God’s will for us to be free means suffering is possible too.
To end all suffering would be to end human freedom.
God’s desired will is for love, joy and peace for all.
God’s permissive will is for us to choose, whatever that means.
Jesus also had a choice; He could choose Satan’s way of overcoming.
Or He could choose God’s Way, the way of love, joy and peace.
Jesus is not surrender to evil, He is surrendering to God’s good will.
He is entrusting Himself and His future into God’s hands.
He is choosing God’s Way, come what may, to open the way… for us.
I still pray ‘God, please, no’ or ‘God, please let it be so!’
But I also pray ‘may Your good, pleasing, loving will be done!’
As Jesus followers, we have a choice: Satan’s Way or God’s Way.
I pray for and want to choose God’s Way!
Lord Jesus, I struggle too with how horrible sin and misery are. I see so much misery and suffering and I plead, ‘God, please, no!’
Because I know Your will and Way are good, I also pray “as you will!