Yet not my will but yours be done

Yet not what I will but what you will Mark 14: 38

King Hezekiah was one of the best kings that Judah had because he 'trusted in, leaned on and was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel' (II Kings 18: 5 KJV).  The most wonderful thing he witnessed was when the king of Assyria threatened Judah just as he had threatened and invaded all the surrounding nations including Israel. The Assyrians were ruthless and brutal soldiers and Hezekiah spurred on by Isaiah prayed to God who wonderfully delivered Judah by killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers overnight. The king and remaining soldiers fled home in disgrace.

Soon however Isaiah came to tell Hezekiah that God was going to take him home (II Kings 20: 1). But Hezekiah had no son so he pleaded with God not to die yet. God graciously gave him 15 more years but if Hezekiah had known what would happen after his death, he may have preferred to die at God’s timing.

During those 15 years Hezekiah had a son, Manasseh, who after his father’s death became the most wicked, idolatrous king that Judah ever had, leading the nation into all kinds of evil. Hezekiah just could not imagine what would happen if he died without an heir but never imagined what might happen to the nation at the hands of his heir.

Philip however knew the right time to go. He had been in Samaria (Acts 8) and they had been experiencing revival with salvations and wonderful signs and wonders. God told him to leave this revival and go to the desert road. This must have been very hard as he would have known there was not much going on there! However God had a divine appointment for Philip with an Ethiopian eunuch that we are still reading about today 2000 years later.

Doing God’s will is not always easy but God’s way is best and sometimes we have to just trust him even when we do not understand why he is asking us to do something. We may desperately want something believing it is the best thing but we need to take our lead from Jesus, ‘Yet not what I will but what you will.’ If God wants us to do or even not do something, leave a flourishing work, turn down a promotion, not have our heart’s desire, whatever it may be, God is doing it because he has the bigger plan in mind and he is doing it because it is best for you and everyone else.