Not what I will but what You will.
Mark 14:36
And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
It is perhaps the most profound aspect of faith we can ever discover.
Jesus demonstrated it in His prayer at Gethsemane. Matthew, Mark and Luke included this prayer in their accounts of His last night in the garden.
“Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
It is the very thing Jesus had taught His followers to pray:
“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10).
It is what He repeatedly referred to when He received pushback from the religious authorities:
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).
He came to do the will of the Father.
Sunday faith is comfortable.
We are good with answered prayers.
We enjoy the Father's blessings.
We like to have a Savior and the promises of heaven.
But following His will is another thing altogether.
We all have examples:
I didn’t want to break up with my high school girlfriend. But it happened.
I wanted to get into grad school after college. But I didn’t.
I didn’t want to lose my father before I was 35 years old. But I did.
I didn’t want to live in the city. I was afraid. But here we are.
For Jesus the will of God was more difficult than we will ever imagine.
Within 18 hours of His prayer, Jesus had suffered, died and was buried.
But within 60 hours of His prayer, His tomb was empty, His followers were rejoicing, and the authorities were scrambling to figure out what had happened.
He can do anything. But He might not do what we ask.
It is not that He didn’t hear us.
It’s that His will is not based on ours.
He is at work. “Thy Kingdom come.”
This is a prayer He always answers.
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
It is how we can pray and support one another:
“For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord …” (Colossians 1:9,10).
Faith is focused on God, “The gaze of the soul upon a saving God” (A.W. Tozer)
Faith requires endurance.
Faith is demonstrated by obedience.
Faith is sustained by hope.
Faith is the witness of the believing community.
And faith is our willingness to submit to the will of the Father through Jesus Christ His Son.
