YOUR WILL BE DONE

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”  (Luke 22:42 NKJV)

Gaze in adoring wonder at the scene (Luke 22:39-46). The solidary figure etched against gnarled olive trees. The bloodlike sweat falling to the ground. The human longing: “Let this cup pass.” The final relinquishment: “Not My will but Yours be done.” We do well to meditate often on this unparalleled expression of relinquishment.

Here we have the incarnate Son praying through His tears and not receiving what He asks. Jesus knew the burden of unanswered prayer. He really did want the cup to pass, and He asked that it would pass. “If You are willing” was His questioning, His wondering. The Father’s will was not yet absolutely clear to Him. “Is there any other way?” “Can people be redeemed by some other means?” The answer – no! Andrew Murray writes, “For our sins, He suffered beneath the burden of that unanswered prayer.”

Here we have the complete laying down of human will. The battle cry for us is, “my will be done!” rather than, “Thy will be done.” 

-- Richard J. Foster in “Prayer”

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