I am astonished that, in the light
of the clear biblical record, anyone would have the audacity to suggest that it
is wrong for the afflicted in body or soul to couch their prayers for
deliverance in terms of “If it be thy will….” We are told that when affliction
comes, God always wills healing, that He has nothing to do with suffering, and
that all we must do is claim the answer we seek by faith. We are exhorted to
claim God’s yes before He speaks it.
Away with such distortions of
biblical faith! They are conceived in the mind of the Tempter, who would seduce
us into exchanging faith for magic. No amount of pious verbiage can transform
such falsehood into sound doctrine. We must accept the fact that God sometimes
says no. Sometimes He calls us to suffer and die even if we want to claim
the contrary.
Never did a man pray more earnestly
than Christ prayed in Gethsemane. Who will charge Jesus with failure to pray in
faith? He put His request before the Father with sweat like blood: “Take this
cup away from me.” This prayer was straightforward and without ambiguity—Jesus
was crying out for relief. He asked for the horribly bitter cup to be removed.
Every ounce of His humanity shrank from the cup. He begged the Father to
relieve Him of His duty.
But God said no. The way of
suffering was the Father’s plan. It was the Father’s will. The cross was not
Satan’s idea. The passion of Christ was not the result of human contingency. It
was not the accidental contrivance of Caiaphas, Herod, or Pilate. The cup was
prepared, delivered, and administered by almighty God.
In all our prayers, we must let God
be God.
Jesus qualified His prayer: “If it
is Your will….” Jesus did not “name it and claim it.” He knew His Father well
enough to understand that it might not be His will to remove the cup. So the
story does not end with the words, “And the Father repented of the evil He had
planned, removed the cup, and Jesus lived happily ever after.” Such words
border on blasphemy. The gospel is not a fairy tale. The Father would not
negotiate the cup. Jesus was called to drink it to its last dregs. And He
accepted it. “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
This “nevertheless” was the supreme
prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is not a demand that we place on God. It
is not a presumption of a granted request. The authentic prayer of faith is one
that models Jesus’ prayer. It is always uttered in a spirit of subordination.
In all our prayers, we must let God be God. No one tells the Father what to do,
not even the Son. Prayers are always to be requests made in humility and
submission to the Father’s will.
The prayer of faith is a prayer of
trust. The very essence of faith is trust. We trust that God knows what is
best. The spirit of trust includes a willingness to do what the Father wants us
to do. Christ embodied that kind of trust in Gethsemane. Though the text is not
explicit, it is clear that Jesus left the garden with the Father’s answer to
His plea. There was no cursing or bitterness. His meat and His drink were to do
the Father’s will. Once the Father said no, it was settled. Jesus prepared
Himself for the cross.
