Do you have a traumatic or wonderful experience that is so vividly etched in your mind that you remember every detail? One that either distressed or impressed your outlook?
For me, it happened on December 31, 1995. Our son-in-law, Jerry, had just bought a new snowmobile. He and a few friends decided to snowmobile from Forest Lake to Duluth. Jerry was in the lead. He came around a curve in the trail and saw a stop sign for Hwy. 61. Jerry looked over his left shoulder and held up his arm signaling he was stopping. But he did not see the train coming from his right side.
His friend, Rick, came up from behind as the train, with its breaks screeching, passed by. Man, I hope he made it across, Rick thought. The railroad crossing sign was down – buried in the snow – so none of the guys were aware of the train tracks.
Burt and I got the call from one of Jerry’s brothers that Jerry was hit by a train but they did not know his condition. With my heart pounding, I asked him not to say anything to LaDawn, our daughter, until we got there. Burt drove. I prayed. “Please Lord, if he could be be airlifted to a hospital. Please spare his life. They have a five-month-old son. Please, please God, if they can get him to the hospital…”
When we arrived at LaDawn’s house, she answered the door, holding Ryan. When she saw us, a look of dread spread across her face. “Sweetheart,” I started, “Jerry has been in an accident. We don’t know his condition…”
“What happened?” She began to tremble.
I hesitated. I did not want to say those aweful words. I brushed away tears. “He was hit by a train…” She handed Ryan to me as she slid to the floor in a faint.
Just then the phone rang. I answered. It was Jerry’s brother. “He didn’t make it,” he cried. “He died instantly of a broken neck,” he finally choked out.
For a time, I struggled with Why didn’t God answer my prayer? I learned something vitally important about prayer, and when the Lord’s will does not sync with ours. I trusted God with my prayer but I trusted that the doctors could save his life. I also learned that when I pray, no matter how desperate the situation, I must ALWAYS, ALWAYS be willing to surrender my will to the sovereign and all-knowing God without offering Him my inept solutions.
Jesus exemplified the proper way to pray when He was in the most extreme situation – His own pending death. While in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal, Jesus became exceedingly sorrowful and deeply distressed. “He fell with His face to the ground and offered up prayers and supplications with fervent cries and tears, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Jesus prayed the second time, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ Jesus prayed the same words in prayer the third time.
After the third time praying, Jesus committed Himseslf to drink the cup, whatever the cost. He had surrendered His will to His Father.
Jesus’ prayer was not because of His impending death, as terrible as it would be, but that He, the sinless Son of God, would bear God’s wrath for the sins and shame of the world. He would be separated from His Father as evidenced by His words on the cross when He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, we say “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but what if God’s will does not sync with ours? What if His will leads us on a path of extreme suffering or death? That is the perfect time to ask for grace to accept His will and for the strength needed to endure and to remain faithful to the end. It is called surrendering our will and desires to God’s will and His plans. Hard to do? Sometimes, maybe even most times, but essential when in prayer.
Based on Hebrews 5:7, Matthew 27:46