IF IT'S THE LORD'S WILL
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:41, 42)
The Gospels record Jesus praying on sixteen occasions. Six of those prayers were offered during the last week of his life on earth before crucifixion. In the Gethsemane prayer above, Jesus separates himself from the other disciples and humbles Himself before the Father as He prepares to go to Calvary. Jesus would be taking on the sins of the world and His humanity is evident at that moment like never before. Never before this point had Jesus been seen at such a point of human weakness. He asked God, the Father, if it was His will, to remove the cup. The cup represented the death and accompanying suffering that He was facing. I will not speculate on why Jesus offered such a prayer. After all, His purpose for coming to earth was to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Yet the unpleasantness of what He was facing led Him to affirm once more, that God's will had not changed.
How many times have we asked God for things that we did not receive? When we asked for those things, did we consider God's will? Have you prayed for God to heal someone who was sick, however they later died? Have you asked God to give you a nicer home, yet you have not received it yet? Sometimes we must consider the fact that our will and God's will does not line up.
Remember that God has a plan for our lives. Within that plan God allows us to make choices. But even with the leeway that God allows mankind, nothing is going to stop God's plan. God knows what is good for us even when we do not. We have to trust Him in every situation. Like Jesus, there have been times when I wanted the "cup" to pass. But like Jesus, I believe God's will is always best. So now when faced with certain situations that are unpleasant, I just say, "IF IT'S THE LORD'S WILL!
