Yet Not My Will (Chapter 6) (Tuesday in the first week of Lent)

PAUSE
As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly to recenter my scattered senses upon the presence of God.

(pause)
I pray Psalm 17: 6-7, repeating the words slowly, several times:
“I call on You, my God, for You will answer me; tum Your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love.”

REFLECT
Bible: Today, we conclude our study of Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane, considering its sobering and challenging final sentence:

“Abba, Father,” [Jesus] said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:36).

Book passage: Having acknowledged God’s love (“Abba, Father”), God’s power (“everything is possible for you”), and His own terror (“take this cup from me”), Jesus now surrenders Himself completely to the Father’s purposes. Such surrender is never easy:

Maybe God has simply been replying to your prayers with a loving but firm no. I don’t suggest this lightly. It may well be the most painful possibility you have ever had to consider, and it may also seem to fly in the face of everything you know of God’s heart and will. (p. 76)

ASK
Ask myself: Having prayed “Take this cup from me,” is it possible that God might be replying to me, as He replied to Jesus, with “a loving but firm no”? How can I discern what His will might be for me in my situation?

Ask the Lord: I take time now to surrender my will to God’s will. YIELD
The well-loved hymn of surrender, “All to Jesus I Surrender,” by Judson W. Van De Venter:

All to Jesus I surrenders
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live
I surrender all, I surrender all All to Thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all

Amen