Take This Cup From Me

TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME

a prayer to open

In the midst of my pain, Lord, I cry out to you.

When darkness sets in and I can’t see the light,

lead me in the way of hope, and fill my heart with joy.

Accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

He walked away . . . and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

Jesus’ experience in the garden of Gethsemane just before he would be crucified is a painful, agonizing picture of a desire for things to be other than they were. Jesus prayed that the Father would find another way for humanity to be saved and redeemed. His despair was so deep that his body bled and his soul was in anguish. But he didn’t allow the pain he felt to overcome his trust in the Father. He didn’t allow his desire to be relieved of his calling to overtake his desire to do God’s will. Rather, he opened himself to the Spirit to be strengthened and prepared to resist the temptation to exert his own will: “Not my will, but yours be done” (verse 42, NIV).

• In what area of your life do you see a gap between your own desire and God’s desire for you? What does lamenting that gap look like if you use Jesus as your model?
• In what ways do you need the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and prepare you to resist the temptation to exert your will rather than trust God’s will?
• Jesus invited his closest friends to go with him and pray. Who can you invite into your deepest struggle right now? In light of what is reflected in today’s passage, how might you invite them to pray?

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

Not my will, but yours be done.

May your will be done.