Orchestrator of Change
Matthew 26:39
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Some people thrive off of moving from one thing to the next in life. Maybe going from place to place, meeting new people constantly, or picking up new jobs or projects. To an extent I love those things, but change in life is something I really struggle with. Leaving one season to move to the next tends to come with a lot of emotions, reflection, processing, and hesitation. Sometimes I cannot wait to leave hard seasons of life, but even those come with the processing of emotions and lessons learned. Closing one chapter of life to open a new one can be scary. You may be comfortable in one season and unsure about the next. You may be having the best, most productive summer, and dread going back to school. You may be dealing with an unexpected breakup and fear singleness. We’ve all experienced major changes in life, each one different from the rest.
One thing I am certain of is that none of us can be certain about what lies ahead. We cannot predict tomorrow let alone the next year or few years. You may be dreading a move, a job, graduate school, a season of loss. Whatever it may be, we have no idea how God will reveal His goodness, how He will use you, how He will be gracious to you. If you are looking to the future with fear and anxiety, lean on the truth that God’s will is better than your own. If you are looking to the future with excitement and confidence, lean on the truth that God’s will is better than your own.
In the Garden of Gethsemane before Jesus’s arrest He is praying to the Father asking that this burden be taken from Him. He is fully aware that He is going to bear the punishment of the sins everyone has and will ever commit. What a terrifying thought. He does not end His prayer this way however, but ends it by saying, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” So often we pray for life to go exactly how we think it should, how we think it would be best for us. We are called to pray and cry out to God with these requests, but we are also called to trust that the perfect God of the universe has a perfect plan for each of us. What would it look like for you to pray about your fears or anxiety or sadness about moving on to the next chapter, but with the confidence that you are not the one who knows what’s best for you? How much simpler would it be to embrace the things you dread or the times you apprehend knowing God is walking alongside you with a perfect love? A Fatherly love that could only have what is best in store.
I challenge you to embrace change with confidence not in yourself or your own desires or expectations, but Christ’s. I challenge you to grasp that you are placed in each location, around specific people, with particular roles in every season of life for a reason. Your purpose is eternal, so live Kingdom-minded wherever you are, around whoever you are around. God has led you into this time and He will be with you through it. We do not know what lies ahead but how exciting is that?! How exciting is it that we are not the ones in control of our lives?!
I challenge you to pray as Christ prayed before dying for the sins of the world. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39