Stuff That Matters In Life

This just occurred to me that I find interesting:

While Jesus was being arrested and Peter pulls out his sword, Jesus reprimanded him saying, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” It is clear that the Father’s will for Jesus is to be arrested, and eventually go to the cross. So Jesus did not resist.

Yet, Jesus also said to Peter when he drew the sword, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” If Jesus did not want to do the Father’s will of going to the cross, his Father would deliver him.

Think about that.

If Jesus did in fact ask, and the angels came and Jesus did not go to the cross, would he have done God’s will? We know the answer is No.

Yet, if we were Jesus and was delivered in such a miraculous way with twelve legions of angels, wouldn’t we rejoice and say, “God answered my prayers to be delivered. Hallelujah! Since I am delivered, it must’ve been God’s will.”

When we are in the middle of something hard and difficult, we often ask God for deliverance. “Get me out of this situation! This can’t be your will. Something is wrong.” If God answers by taking us out, we praise God that we are safe and happy, back to a comfortable life. Yet, we cannot know for sure that it was God’s will for us to be out of that situation, can we?

If Jesus had asked, he would’ve been delivered from the agony of the cross, but would he have accomplished God’s will? God’s will for us is often not comfortable and easy. If we just ask for deliverance, we would miss out on fulfilling God’s plan.

We settle for mediocre temporal comfort and miss out on God’s greater unseen victory ahead.

I think It’s safer to pray, “If it’s possible, let this cup pass from me. But not mine, but thy will be done.”

And then do not complain about our hard circumstances. We can be content in any circumstance and find our joy in knowing that we are in God’s will to accomplish a greater purpose.