"Nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done." (Luke 22:42)
In reading the account of Christ's prayer in the garden, people quite naturally get the idea that the well-known words just quoted, which He uttered, were a sort of protest, as though He would say, "Well, if I cannot have what I desire, let your will be done."
This is because we judge Him by ourselves, who are so apt to regard God's will as a hardship to be endured, rather than a blessing to be desired. We should remember that the words are a request, and are but the continuation of what Jesus had already prayed: "Father, if You be willing, remove this cup from me." (Luke 22:42)
Christ's prayer was all in harmony with what He had taught His disciples to pray, namely, "Your will be done." (Matthew 6:10)
This prayer recognizes the fact that God's will is the only perfect will, and that only what He wills is right and good. Nothing is more disastrous for any man than to have his own way.
We are to meditate upon God's ways until we know that His ways and His will are as much better than ours as the heaven is higher than the earth, and then we shall ardently long for His will to be done.
Thus we shall most earnestly pray to be saved from having our own way and doing our own will.--Present Truth, September 25, 1902.