BY ELD. J. H. DURLAND.
WHILE Jesus was in Gethsemane just before his crucifixion, pleading with his Father that the cup might pass from him, he closes his petition with the words, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The trials just before him were not to be desired. He knew that he should be mocked, spit upon, and finally crucified. These thoughts caused the poor, frail nature of man, which he had taken upon himself, to draw back. No doubt Satan tried to bring all his forces to bear upon the Son of God, that he might cause him to refuse to do the will of his Father.
Satan lost his place in heaven because he would not surrender his will to that of the Lord. He knows that his doom is sealed. He has no hope of salvation. He also knows that every one of the human family he can deceive and cause to be lost will lighten the burden he will have to bear. He worked with all his power to cause the Son of God to fail in his mission, that thus he might become victorious in his desires. But in this he failed. He now turns his forces upon the human family, and tries to plant the seeds of unbelief in each heart. How well he succeeds, we can tell when we see how well we love our own ways.
Our nature is to doubt God’s word. We think we must have our own way. We think our judgment the best. If we could get to heaven on “flowery beds of ease,” we would be anxious to go; but to suffer much tribulation we cannot bear. This is why men rack their brains in trying to invent a religion that will not take any effort on their part to be saved. It is that stubborn will.
Sometimes when God grants to us a special blessing, we say we can give up all for his cause. We say, “Not my will but thine be done.” Then the Lord calls us to do something we did not expect. We now see how little faith we have. We try to excuse ourselves by saying it ,is not convenient, or if it was something else, how willingly we would obey.– But this unpleasant, unexpected request ! Like Moses, we shrink from the call of the Lord by saying, “Who am I that the Lord should send me.” We cannot now say “not my will,” for we find that we still love that will that Satan has planted in our hearts.
How many have thus been tried ! How often they think God unjust ! They think they would be willing to work if they could occupy the position they desire. But how few are willing to work in arty place, if they can but do something for the cause of the Master ? That will is in the way.
Is this the way we should feel when the Lord calls us to work for him ? If we had no examples of those who have traveled the way before us, we might think so. But Jesus set an example for us to follow when he went to Gethsemane. His soul was burdened with what he would be called to pass through. He spent the silent watches of the night seeking help from the Father above. He sought for help until he could say, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
The Apostle Paul says, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2 : 5. The writer of the above words knew the need of becoming like Jesus. He had been called upon to surrender his will, and go where the Lord called him to labor. At one time when he was about to go to Jerusalem, the Spirit, through Agabus, warned him of the imprisonment that awaited him, and his brethren pleaded with him not to go. But the apostle did not consult his own feelings nor those of his brethren. He answered them by saying, “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” This was a time when he needed the mind of Christ. Oh how much we need this same spirit in our hearts in these last days ! Nothing short of this will ever give us a place in the kingdom.
If every laborer in present truth could say from the depths of the heart, “Not as I will but as thou wilt,” how much more would be accomplished ! The little inconveniences that hinder us now would vanish, and we would see nothing but the will of God. Can we have this spirit ? We can if we seek for it. “Ask, and ye shall receive,” says the Saviour. We need to go to Gethsemane. Oh, may we seek the Lord earnestly for his help until we can say,” Thy will be done” in all things.
The Advent Review and Herald Feb. 12, 1884