“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you.
Take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36
This passage relates to events that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. The sufferings of Christ begin to come to the fore at this point. Jesus is suffering according to the will of God but commits himself to his Father’s will, even if it turns unpleasant. Judas arrives at Gethsemane with a band of armed men to arrest Jesus, and Jesus submits to arrest. The disciples resist at first, but when they see Christ’s submission to arrest, they flee. The disciples rejected the idea of a suffering Messiah, and when they saw that Jesus was indeed committed to it, they abandoned him.
How often have your prayers ended with words such as, “Your will, not mine”? What do you mean by this sentiment? Are you offering these words because you acknowledge God as omnipotent (all-powerful), Omnipresent (everywhere present), Omnibenevolent (all-loving), and He is omniscient (all-knowing)? Are you agreeing that the activities God has ordained for His creation since the beginning of time and for all eternity are righteous, wise and proper?
What happens when life’s rubber meets reality’s road? What happens when you are sitting in a hospital room, amongst the whirring and beeping of machine monitoring the vitals of a family member who is teetering between life and death? You pray, “God heal them”. You may add, “Not my will but yours,” but you want God’s will to align with yours. We pray, wishing to change God’s mind when forgetting we are invited to pray so, God can change ours.
A large part of following Christ is allowing him to form our expectations. Failing to do so sets us up for disappointment and failure when His will goes in a direction we do not accept. We don’t want that ill family member to die. But if they do, we must not question whether we prayed enough, had weak faith, or whether God was listening. As hard as it is, we need to seek understanding from our prayers and experiences to continue pursuing and following God.