Andy Mullikin| Special to The Monroe News
In the Gospels, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in what we know today as “The Lord’s Prayer.” The words He spoke were concise and rich, helping us understand how and what we should pray for. Yet there is a line within the Lord’s Prayer that I personally believe is the hardest line for us to pray and actually mean: “Your will be done.”
To pray “God, your will be done” is simply stating we want His will to happen above our own. May the things you want come to be, even if I disagree. Yet when we pray for things to happen and they don’t come to be, how can we trust Him? We will never be able to pray “your will be done” unless we are certain that we can trust Him.
You might be asking,how can I be sure God is trustworthy? Why would I want His will above my own? I have prayed before for good and noble things. I have asked for healing. I have asked to get a job that would have been better for my family and I. I’ve lifted up heartfelt prayers for good things to happen in my life – and God did not answer.His will must be wrong. How can I trust a God like that? My life would be better if only He responded. How can I see Him as trustworthy?
When it seems as though God turns down certain prayers, the experience can feel absolutely shattering. If you’re reading this right now, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
But we have a great assurance in Scripture that there is indeed no such thing as unanswered prayer for you and for me. And that might be really hard to read. But let me explain: When we call on God we know He will answer, because on one terrible day when Jesus called, God did not answer Jesus. What do I mean by that?
When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed one line out of the Lord’s Prayer – the line in the prayer I believe is hardest to say and mean: "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.Yet not as I will, but as you will." Jesus’ request was turned down, and the cup was not taken from Him. The cup Jesus was referring to is the cross. On the cross Jesus cried out “My God!” and he was forsaken.
A Psalm I can’t help but think about is Psalms 66:18: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” This passage means sinners deserve to have their prayers go unanswered. But we know Jesus lived a perfect life; He was without sin. Jesus was the only person who deserved to have every prayer He lifted up answered. Yet He was turned down as if He cherished sin in His heart.
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Don’t you see? God treated Jesus as we deserved – He took our place – so that those who believe in Him can be treated like Jesus deserved.
When we pray, we can have the confidence that we will be heard by God and answered in the wisest of ways. Take a moment and read Isaiah 55:8-9. His ways are higher, His thoughts are higher. Like the late Timothy Keller taught: “God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything He knows.”
Andy Mullikin is pastor of 2|42 Community Church's Monroe Campus. He can be reached at andy.mullikin@242community.com.
