Going a little farther, [Jesus] fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).
Father, Sovereign Lord, You alone are God, El Shaddai, Almighty, all-knowing. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit (Psalm 147:5).
The Lord Jesus, who taught us to pray, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." (Matthew 6:10), shows us what that means in a real and practical sense. In this His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, wrenched from a soul...overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Matthew 26:38), He demonstrates ultimate trust, ultimate submission.
You made us, O God, and You know so well the struggle between the spirit [that] is willing and the flesh [that] is weak (Matthew 26:41). In Your matchless wisdom, You gave us the example of the only One who is perfectly man, perfectly God. He showed us how to completely abandon frail humanity to the will of a Father He knew to be perfect in goodness, mighty in power, limitless in understanding.
Oh Lord, everything in our human faculties rejects the cup of suffering. And yet in this world broken and ravaged by sin, redemption comes only by way of the cross, restoration only by way of sacrifice. We struggle so with those concepts, but You have never hidden them from us. "In this world you will have trouble," Jesus told us. "But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Teach us to walk in the steps of our Savior. "No servant is greater than his master," He told us (John 13:16). Remind us of the victory beyond the cross, the resurrection beyond the grave. Encourage us with the words of the apostle Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
We lift to You, loving Father, the cup of suffering. Give us the submissive heart of our Savior as we pray, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Help us to trust You in full surrender. Thank You for the promise of renewal, the joy of victory, the hope of Easter.
I must needs go home by the way of the cross, There’s no other way but this; I shall ne’er get sight of the Gates of Light, If the way of the cross I miss.
Refrain: The way of the cross leads home, The way of the cross leads home; It is sweet to know, as I onward go, The way of the cross leads home.
I must needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way, The path that the Savior trod, If I ever climb to the heights sublime, Where the soul is at home with God.
Then I bid farewell to the way of the world, To walk in it nevermore; For my Lord says, “Come,” and I seek my home, Where He waits at the open door.
~ Jessie B. Pounds ~ 1906
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