July 21

Read: Mark 14:32-36

Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt (Mark 14:36).

Nevertheless What Thou Wilt

“We cannot understand fully all the struggle within the soul of our Lord when He prayed in Gethsemane to be spared the agony He saw before Him. But Jesus’ petition did not end with, ‘Take away this cup from me.’ He prayed also: ‘Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.’ This nevertheless we can understand. We have been there.

“Sometimes we assume that all the responses of a completely consecrated life are automatic. No! Discipline and direction are still involved. Have we not, though the Spirit bore witness that our consecration was complete, experienced times when our immediate desires seemed to be in one direction and the Lord’s will in another? Indeed! And here, precisely, is where many people take themselves off the altar.

“In God’s plan of salvation there comes in every Christian life one great Gethsemane. What a man does there pretty well sets the course for the balance of his life. But the experience of entire sanctification does not mean spiritual automation. It is an experience of perfect love. When our wills seem to be at variance with His, or we cannot understand the why of His will, we say, in trust and love, nevertheless. At this point of discipline every man may have something of Gethsemane again.

“When our spirits are pressed to the breaking point, let us not forget to cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ We must never forget — though the sky is dark and the storm severe that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. When we are fighting a battle, even the battle of the will’s struggle, we need not try to hide it from God, or to pretend that all is easy and automatic. Bring it out in the open to Him. Confess the struggle. Don’t even hesitate to say, ‘If it be possible.’ Say whatever your soul must say, for it is a loving Father who listens to your cry.” — Ponder W. Gilliland