Lent Guide: In the Shadow of Gethsemaneಮಾದರಿ

...unanswered prayer

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:41-42

The prayer at Gethsemane was a prayer of surrender. Take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. And yet the cup is not taken away – Jesus’ prayer isn’t answered. Jesus knew the burden of unanswered prayer. He really wanted the cup to be taken away, and He asked for it to happen. “If you are willing,” was his question. “Is there another way? Can people be saved some other way?” The answer – no!

Andrew Murray writes: “For our sins, he suffered the burden of that unanswered prayer.” It often happens that we are stared in the face by an unanswered prayer and we wonder, Does God not want to help? Is He not interested or are we not praying correctly? In Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, He doesn’t get what He asks for, but the greatest act of salvation in human history happens when He surrenders to the Father’s will. The way of surrender. “My will must be done” is overcome by “not my will.” “Thy Kingdom come” is a prayer that also says, “Let my kingdom go.”

In the school of Gethsemane, we learn that “my will, my path, my stuff” has to make way for a higher authority… and that unanswered prayer might just be the best-answered prayer.

Exercise

Ask Him to make you aware of His will and to give you the courage to let your will go.

• Think back to an unanswered prayer in the past where you can now see an outcome that has happened
• How can you surrender anew to the will of God, even if you don’t see the outcome of your prayers?

Prayer: I ask for a deep consciousness of Your love and work in my life.