Scripture: Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Devotion: One of my best friends growing up always dreamed of having a big family. She wanted to marry a farmer and have six or seven kids. So, when shortly out of high school, she started dating a farmer, she thought that her dreams were coming true. She married him less than two years later, and they immediately started trying for a family. Well, the family did not come easy for them. They went a couple of years before ever getting pregnant. They were blessed with twins, but did not know what their family would hold after that. They ended up walking through four miscarriages. After several surgeries and continuing health issues, my friend ended up with a hysterectomy in her low thirties. This was not at all what she had planned less than ten years prior.
But somewhere along the way, she surrendered to the Lord’s will for her life. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). Much of our worry stems from a lack of control. We have a desire, a dream, or a certain way that we want things to go. So, we stew over it. We worry about it. And at some point, we have to recognize that it is not your plans for your life that matter but God’s plan for your life. You surrender to His will and what He has in store for you.
Jesus did this in the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing that He was about to be betrayed, which would lead to his trial, beating, and ultimate execution, He asked that the Lord would take it from Him. It was a great burden to bear, and He asked that the Lord would remove it. He confesses the desires of His heart to his Father who cares deeply for Him. And then, He surrenders to the will of God. “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” May we use this posture of trust and humility as an example of how to live our own lives in surrender to our Lord and Savior.
Reflect:
- What areas of your life are you needing to surrender your plans? To give over control? To share your dreams with your Heavenly Father and ask for your greatest desires, and then to ultimately surrender your life to Him?
