In the first example, God’s denial of Moses’ request reinforced His sovereignty to direct Moses’ life. In the second, God’s refusal to grant Paul’s request revealed His creativity to expand Paul’s possibilities. In this final example, we will look at something that happened in the life of Jesus Christ.
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39 (NIV)
Jesus Christ offered that prayer the night He was arrested, and the day before He was crucified. It was such an emotionally taxing experience that the Scriptures reveal He sweated profusely while praying (Luke 22:44). He repeated the same prayer two more times before the Roman soldiers arrived and took Him into custody. At issue was “this cup” that Jesus wanted to be taken from Him. The symbolism of the cup was a reference to the pouring out of God’s wrath on the wicked and unrighteous (Psalm 11:6; Jeremiah 25:15; Lamentations 4:21). Jesus knew He was about to experience that wrath upon Himself at His crucifixion. The death of Jesus Christ was not a political statement or a socially-conscious act. It was the payment for the penalty of humanity’s sins – sins that deserved God’s judgment (Romans 3:20-26; 5:9-10). Christ was about to experience that judgment in His death on the cross so that all who believed in His Name would have eternal life (John 3:16).
This sacrifice would come at a horrific and gruesome cost. Scourging and crucifixion were by no means humane practices. Their brutality was nothing less than barbaric in the levels of pain and disfigurement inflicted upon those who suffered through these very public ordeals. They were not merely punishments for crimes but were also intended to serve as deterrents. I believe this is what prompted Jesus’ request to have the cup taken from him. The thought of the pain and suffering that awaited Him was emotionally overwhelming. In the end, Jesus did acknowledge His submission to God’s will over His own, but the wording of His prayer revealed a very personal struggle.
At that point in His earthly ministry, what Jesus Christ desired and what His Heavenly Father had ordained were not in harmony. That was a paradox of monumental proportion, where God the Son struggled with God the Father in the fulfillment of the Divine will. To be fair, to admit discomfort in doing something is not akin to saying it is immoral or impractical. It just means the method chosen is not appealing to the individual who must commit the act. That does not change the substance of the prayer in that Jesus Christ still would have preferred an alternative method to save humanity, and God denied it to Him. In this case, God’s refusal to grant Jesus’ request revealed His priority to save our lives. There were no other options that could adequately redeem humanity, so God insisted on our salvation over Jesus’ ease. It would mean public humiliation and intense suffering for Christ, but hope and eternal life for humanity. As far as God was concerned, our deliverance should have the priority. The Apostle Paul would later reflect on this choice when he wrote of God’s unwavering commitment to us: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32 (NIV)
It is unfortunate, but the most notorious feeling we often experience when our prayer requests are denied is that of abandonment. We think God has forsaken us, and we must now fend for ourselves in our darkest hours. We end up struggling with the problem of how God could love us but not help us when we need Him the most. By using the above example of God’s priority being our salvation, we must ask ourselves: Was what we asked for truly going to deliver us? The reason our spiritual reflexes seem more honed to embracing God’s approvals than dealing with His denials is that we believe we instinctively know what is best for us. Our expectations of God are often so specific because we are convinced we know exactly what we need when we ask for it. If God’s priority is to save us, then His refusals cannot be the result of His abandonment in our times of crisis. In reality, our greatest liability in those moments is not God’s refusal to act on our behalf, but our own desires. We insist on demanding from God whatever we think we need at the moment without considering the implications or God’s perspective on what is happening to us. So, God denies our requests, but not because He is indifferent or unloving. It is because He will accept nothing less than what He knows will save us. That’s the power of “No!”
END OF PART FOUR.
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