Thy Will Be Done

Luke 22:42

"Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me;

yet not My will but Yours be done."

February 17, 2017 was my birthday ... the first one without David.

They say the first year -- the year of Firsts -- is the hardest. I didn't know how I was going to be, so I decided to show myself some grace, take the day off and stay home.  It was a contemplative day.

I found myself thinking about the phrase "Thy Will Be Done", the title of this post.  I asked myself "To what extent am I committed to saying that? What if God requires my health of me? Or my daughter Kate? Or my wife Judy?"  And I considered Jesus.

Jesus, as the Son of God, had at His disposal all the incomprehensible glories of heaven.  When God asked Him to go to earth, to teach mankind what God the Father was like, to leave "the splendors of heaven, knowing His destiny was the lonely hill of Golgotha, there to lay down His life for me" as the old hymn says, Jesus response was "I delight to do Your will". He would really set all that aside to go and be born in a smelly animal stable, live a life of poverty and mostly obscurity, be wrongfully accused, unjustly tried and sentenced by cowards and liars, and finally be executed on a cross, the Roman pinnacle of torture devices -- and He would delight to do that?

Consider what Hebrews 12, verse 2, says: "[Jesus], who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, ..." What was that joy that was set before Him? Part of it was that we would be restored to a relationship with Him, as it was in the beginning.   Ephesians 1:18 refers to "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints". Did you catch that? Not the riches of our inheritance in Him but His inheritance in us! Jesus is that much in love with you, that He considers you a rich inheritance! 

So how is it possible, then, that a God who prizes you so highly suddenly becomes capricious or spitefully cruel? It doesn't make sense. God doesn't play mind games,  nor does He get a kick out of causing us misery; a caring father doesn't do that. When something painful occurs in our lives, then, and we know God has allowed it, we need to ask Him to show us His purpose, so we can line up with it.

When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane,  He was facing, in His humanity, a horrifying experience; the excruciating (even this word has the same root!) pain of death on a cross. But in His full deity, He was also horrified at having to bear our sin -- He, the Holy Son of God. And His Father, who had always looked on Him in love, would soon look on Him in fierce anger and righteous judgment, as Jesus bore the penalty of our sin.

And yet He prayed " ... not My will but Yours be done."  

Trust, love, unity of purpose. I want that in my relationship with God too.

Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott and family performed this beautiful song, "Thy Will Be Done"  She says:

"I wrote this song about a very recent experience that left me heartbroken, asking why, and facing some of my most difficult days. This song is my letter to God. As I ask some really hard questions, I hold onto the truth that there is so much to the story of my life that I can't see. But, that I still choose to trust Him."

I'm so confused

I know I heard You loud and clear

So, I followed through

Somehow I ended up here

I don’t wanna think

I may never understand

That my broken heart is a part of Your plan

When I try to pray

All I’ve got is hurt and these four words

Thy will be done

Thy will be done

Thy will be done

I know You’re good

But this don’t feel good right now

And I know You think

Of things I could never think about

It’s hard to count it all joy

Distracted by the noise

Just trying to make sense

Of all Your promises

Sometimes I gotta stop

Remember that You’re God

And I am not

So

Thy will be done

And I'll say the same.