“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done.”
Luke 22:42 (ESV)
What does complete surrender look like? It looks like an artist rendering that I reflect on for perspective especially during challenging times. It is a picture of a beautiful woman—draped in sunshine—sitting on the ground with an open Bible at her feet. Her head is bowed in deep devotion and her hands are folded in humble submission.
Her body language reflects a desire to know God’s will for her life—but also suggests that she is wrestling with His will through a process of surrendering prayer. What is she attempting to surrender? She is beseeching God to help her cease resisting His will and at the same time she is earnestly asking for His help to wholeheartedly submit to His perfect authority and wisdom—beautifully reflecting the intense laborious struggle of the surrendering process.
As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, His request was for His Father to “remove this cup of suffering from Me.” This is the prayer of a genuine human being—also fully divine—who truly comprehends the unspeakable horror that awaits Him. This is a Jesus with whom I can relate—one who is much more like me than a mindless robot going to the cross without a second thought or slightest hesitation.
Even though I have read the account of the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane many times, I am always thankful for this recording of His emotional outpouring. In this prayer I see His humanness and His desired obedience to the will of God. By going to the cross, Jesus knows He will drink the cup of God’s wrath and He will bear divine judgment. He knows He will suffer horribly, both in the physical and spiritual realm as He enters the Hell of separation from His Father—yet He yields to the discretion of His Father.
Jesus displays complete surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane as a model of His acceptance of His Father’s perfect will. His example gives me courage to accept with grace the reality of what my Father’s perfect will has designed for me.