“…nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42b

Not My Will, But Yours Be Done

I’m reading the One Year Chronological Bible this year, and in this first week of 2018 I find myself in Job. The last five chapters of Job are incredible, but those of you who’ve read it know the 37 chapters leading up to them are challenging, to say the least. They are filled with death, loss, pain, suffering, and friends who start out to comfort, but end up accusing Job of sinning.

We find out Satan stands before God with the angels (Job 1:6, 2:1), and we also find out Satan has to have God’s permission to touch Job (Job 1:9-12, 2:6). I must admit that brings me comfort and makes me angry all at the same time. Why would God allow so much death and misery to come into the life of a man who God Himself declares is “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job1:8, 2:3)?

I honestly don’t understand why, and in searching, I read in a Chuck Smith commentary: “I must confess that I understand very little about God. That’s why I worship Him. If I could understand Him completely then He would be on my level and what would I have to worship? But because He is so much greater, vaster in wisdom and understanding and knowledge than I am, I stand in awe and reverence and I worship Him.”*

I’ve weathered some challenging situations in life, not all of them gracefully—I haven’t always been able to say as Job does in vs. 2:10b, “Shall we accept the good from God and not the trouble?” I have often wondered why God hasn’t made a situation “better”, or why He hasn’t done something different in an area I so desperately want Him to or think He should.

Pastor Chuck goes on to say: “Now, He doesn’t always do things my way. Nor does He always stop to explain to me why He did it His way. Though I sometimes demand that He does. He doesn’t always even pay attention to my demands. He just seems to go ahead and do what He wants to anyhow, in spite of my objections. But I appreciate that, because I have found a long time ago that I don’t know very much… I find I’m so ignorant in the things I know best. And thus, I am glad to submit my life, my will to God and to His wisdom. And I am thankful that I can pray, “Lord, I don’t understand what You’re doing. I don’t like what You’re doing, but I know that what You’re doing is best so just keep doing it. Not my will; Your will, Lord, be done.”*

“Dear Lord, as I look back, I see You did know what was best in those challenging situations, and so You will in current and future ones. Not my will, but Yours be done. Amen.”

*https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Job/Job_001.cfm?a=438001