The Mirror of the Word by C.E. White can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Word-Devotions-Reveal-Refine/dp/B0DFZS83C7  To learn more about this author and other words, visit https://cewhitebooks.com/

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

—Luke 22:42

Many of us are afraid we might pray for things that are against God’s will. If we take Jesus’s example here, we don’t have to fear that.

We can pray what we hope as long as we ultimately end with, “yet not my will, but yours be done.”

That’s not always an easy thing to pray. Even Jesus’s experience shows that sometimes God’s plan requires that the illness not be cured, the difficulty not be lifted, the thorn not be taken away, and the hurt not be healed in this lifetime. But it also gives us the understanding that he will use the illness, the difficulty, the thorn, and the hurt for good. He will transform our troubles into great good just as Jesus’s suffering ushered in the greatest good of all time—our reconciliation to him, the guarantee of complete healing, and infinite joy in eternity with God.

In our prayers, we’re like children begging for things which may do them and others very little good in the end. The parent may say no, but the child isn’t wrong for asking. 

The willingness to trust and obey the answer even if it’s against our desire is what’s important.

We may still long for the thing, but we can trust God’s judgment. Sometimes that may take time and maturity; the child might be an adult before realizing why the father said no to a particular request.

We can never fully know the mind of God, but we will learn to accept even his difficult answers as we come to understand his goodness and love. We can ask for what we hope while yet trusting even his no.

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