E. Stanley Jones just tapped me on the shoulder…
…and reminded me of something.
“I once went into the Garden of Gethesemene, there to spend the night in prayer, centering my whole meditation on what I thought was the heart and substance of the Gethesemene incident, “Not my will, but thine be done.” I expected to come away chastened, submissive, surrendered. But in those silent hours I found my thought shifting to the words of Jesus to the sleepy disciples, “Arise, let us be going”—let us be going to meet the betrayal, the rejection, the accusations, the spittle, the cross. The will of God was to be done, not by acquiescence but by activity—it was to be done by taking hold of the whole miserable business and turning it into a triumph of the love of God. That was what it meant by the will of God being done—that will was active, redemptive, breaking through in love to men in spite of their cruelty and hate. “Arise, let us be going” to meet the whole thing is the key to the words, “Thy will be done.” I came away from Gethsemene, not depressed into submission, as I thought I would be, but with a battle-cry sounding in my heart. Gethsemene meant to me no longer a sigh and a tear and a submission, but the call to arise and be going to meet everything, even the very worst that can happen to us, and to turn it to a testimony of the love of God. We can see Jesus in Gethsemene no longer the Victim of the will of God, but the Victor through that will.”
E. Stanley Jones
As Jones reveals, this is something different entirely from our conception of living and moving and breathing within the will of God. This isn’t some milquetoast, vague surrendering of what we want for whatever it is that God wants. The ultimate end of the prayer “Thy will be done” involves actively taking hold of the circumstances of life, no matter how dark they may be, and turning them, twisting them by the authority of God’s will into a triumph and a testimony.
What does this mean, practically? Again, Christ is our model in all things. What difficulty did He ever encounter in His life that He did not turn to a testimony? What opportunity did He ever miss to redeem? Jesus turned even His critics, even those who crucified Him, to the glory of God.
This power over circumstances reaches even unto death, and beyond. Jones continues with a glorious summation of Christ’s steps to the cross as the perfect example of the very concept we will be praying for. With the statement, “Arise, let us be going,” Jesus began his inexorable stride to the cross:
“From that moment on he assumed command of every situation. He healed the ear of the man who came to arrest him. He pronounced the doom of every kingdom, founded on blood and fear, in the words, “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” By the terror of his silence he made Pilate tremble on his throne—the Accused judged the judge and with him his whole empire. He would not accept the tears of the weeping multitude—he told them to weep for themselves and for their children. He dispensed paradise to a dying thief on a nearby cross, and commended his murderers to the mercy and forgiveness of God. At the end he cried, “It is finished”—the will of God had been done—done in spite of the hate of men, yes, through it, and that will was redemptive love. We repeat, then, that this is victorious vitality. It is the art of living dangerously.”
The prayer of opportunity is the art of living dangerously. When we live and move and breathe within the will of God, when we let Him guide our steps and walk with His Heart, we live out the prayer of “Thy will be done” by arising and going. No matter what terrible circumstance we face, we rise and go within the will of God to turn it to a triumph of the love of God, and turn it to a testimony of the power of God.
