Not my will

And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

(Mat 26:36-39)

 – Matthew 26.37-38

This is one of the most intriguing passages of scripture and kind of hard for me to grasp. There is something here about the theological truth of Jesus as the true God/man.

We find Jesus in the garden preparing for His arrest and crucifixion. He knows it is coming and He even tells the disciples that He is in deep distress. In His words His ‘soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to the point of death.’

He goes a little further and prays, ‘O My Father, if it possible let this cup of suffering pass from me.’ I don’t know how, but at this point the human Jesus did not want to face the suffering of the cross.’

But then the same voice says, ‘nevertheless, let Your will, not mine, be done.’

Like I said, I can’t figure out how that works. But I do know the point. God’s will must be done. We are not always going to get or like it, but God’s will ought to be our ultimate purpose and goal in life. Jesus laid aside his desires as a man to serve mankind by dying for our sins. It all started when He ‘thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took on the role of servant.’

We need the same spirit. We are not always going to like laying aside our will to do God’s will. God’s will however is for the ultimate good. His will is always right.

His will, not ours, be done.