Pondering life with Pious Bob

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:39-51 NRSV).
Jesus has taught us so much. As He prays these words in the Garden of Gethsemane, He teaches us that in our praying to God we must pray that, “… not my will but yours be done.” While we might have an outcome or preference in mind as we pray, it is God’s will that must be done. If we pray otherwise, we are possibly setting ourselves up for a disappointment. Jesus teaches us that obedience is part of prayer.
Prayer is how we connect ourselves with God. It is important that we be connected with God. It is in a regular connection that protection dwells. We must have faith that God will protect us in His way, a way that we might not easily understand. We are tempted by worldly expectations and outcomes, which don’t always fit God’s plan.
We must sign on for the whole trip with God. When I had my brain surgery a few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be overcome with the feeling that being in the presence of God was the important thing. Worry about my family’s plight if I died was erased, as was my own fear of death. Through my own prayers and the prayers of many others, I was able to achieve a freedom in my situation that kept me from trying to force outcomes. It was enough that I was in the presence of God. Nothing else mattered.
In all of that, I was able to better understand eternal life. As God, through the Holy Spirit, made me conscious of eternal life with Him, my healing was fulfilled no matter what my personal outcome in a human sense. If worry is a lacking in faith, then we must reject it and turn all of our energy to that closer walk with Him.
Father, Teach me to surrender to You and to accept Your gifts of love and grace without my own interpretations. To come to know a life with You that is eternal. Let Jesus’ parable of the “Prodigal Son” assure me that You will welcome me home when I have strayed from Your ways. And Father God, I want to thank You for the sacrifice You made for me in the death of Your Son, Jesus. You have shown me that forgiveness is the beginning of my healing. I pray in Jesus’ name, that I will serve You better each day. AMEN.
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.