Read Matthew 26:36-46
“Yet, Not My Will, But Your Will Be Done.”
Jesus came to the Garden of Gethsemane. He told his disciples to sit as he went to a nearby place to pray. He took with him James, John, and Peter. He told them how deeply grieved and distressed he was. Jesus knew he would be betrayed into the hands of his enemies and would be sacrificing his body for the sins of the world. This deeply grieved Jesus to the point of death. Jesus told his disciples to stay and keep watch with him. Jesus went further away and three times prayed to his Father that if it was possible, let the cup of death pass by him so he wouldn’t have to go through this sacrifice of death. But three times he ended his prayer with, “Yet, Not My Will, But Your Will Be Done.”
In essence, three times Jesus was saying if it is necessary for me to carry out the sacrifice, then I will do it. And in Hebrews, it says he joyfully went to the cross for us.
Have you ever been grieved and distressed or you felt you were at a point of death or actually wished you were dead? You are so grieved that you just wanted it all to stop, to be done with! Jesus, in his human body, could foresee what his sacrifice of death would entail and asked God to take this away from him. But it was God’s will for Jesus to be beaten and crucified for the sins of the world. Jesus, in his obedience, joyfully went to the cross and the outcome of his death was the greatest act of love resulting in offering the greatest hope for Life. There was a purpose for his “grief,” “distress,” and “death.” In your emotions of being distressed and wishing God would take away your suffering and pain, have you prayed, “Yet, Not My Will, But Your Will Be Done.”? Perhaps there’s a purpose for your pain and grief. In your human body, it doesn’t make sense. But in your spirit, God is at work doing something big. The outcome will be for your benefit and perhaps the benefit of others. Be willing to endure what God has placed before you. He gave his son what was needed to persevere through his sacrifice and death. He will all the more do the same for you and give you what is necessary to sustain you through the pain and grief. This is the Hope! So let God’s will be done and not yours!
