Not my will

I had an “aha” moment today during my Priority Time and I’ve decided to share it. In some ways, it feels more like a “duh” moment than an “aha” moment, but I’ll let you be the judge…As I was praying, I was thanking the Lord for a variety of things and I began to thank Jesus for His willingness to go to the cross. In that moment, the very famous verse from Luke 22:42 came to my mind:

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

I’ve heard and taught on that passage countless times, but it suddenly became clear: That’s how our Heavenly Father wants us to respond to Him. When we’re faced with adversity, we can come to Him and ask Him to remove it… but at the end of the day, He wants us to face it saying, “If this is what You have for me to endure, I will trust You through it.”God created the earth in its perfection. He didn’t want His Son to die. He didn’t want His Son to face death or the lashes upon His back or the temporary separation from Him. It was because of sin. It was a human being believing they knew what was best rather than trusting the Lord that triggered God to have to solve the chasm created by that sin. God stepped in to bring something good to those who love Him.

In the same way, there are times when our own sin (or the sin of someone else) steers us off of Plan A and leaves us in a pit. Your spouse cheats on you. Your friends choose popularity over loyalty and you’re left on the outside. You make a bad choice at work and find yourself without a job. A parent decides that divorce is the answer and leaves your world shaken. Any of these can leave us facing circumstances we don’t want to endure.Yet it’s our choice to trust God and to believe that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. It’s our choice to submit to His will – whether He spares us from the valley or gives us the grace to walk through it.

Jesus didn’t get to skip His crucible moment. But His willingness to say “yes” to what made no sense in the human realm has changed thousands of generations. Literally.How you respond to “your cup” might not feel like it will impact generations, but I promise you that it at least impacts the generations of your family that are watching you. Chris and I have repeatedly said in our journey that it was our children’s faith that we kept in focus as we navigated what we begged God to allow us to avoid. He didn’t let the cup pass from us in our trial, but He did give us the freedom to choose how we responded to the cup.If you’re going through a challenge right now, I encourage you to get alone with God and let Him know everything you think and feel as you process Luke 22:42 in light of your circumstances. Beat against His chest. Are you angry that Plan A isn’t working out? Tell Him all you’re thinking and feeling. Then ask Him to give you the grace to be like Jesus. Relinquish your desired path in return for a heart that trusts that God will see you through and that He has a resurrection waiting on the other side.