Good Friday, 2024
This is the day in the church calendar where we remember the costly gift of God, the gift of His most perfect Son, Jesus. This was the day Jesus followed through with His heart cry: “Thy will be done.”
Good Friday is discussed in more detail in this post. A favorite Good Friday hymn by Charles Wesley, is featured in this post.
Today, let’s take a look at the idea of submission, demonstrated so perfectly by Christ Jesus Himself, at Calvary. The night before He died, He agonized in prayer, pouring out His heart to His Father. This was the very last night that Jesus would spend on earth, as a person like us. Before the insults to follow, before the tortuous death awaiting Him, He prayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane. He spent time with His Dad.
Take a look:
And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down, and began to pray, saying,
‘Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me, yet not My will,
but Thine be done.”
Luke 22:41-42
Oh, that this would be our attitude before our Father! That we would have the mind of Christ! That we would be transformed into His image! Jesus did not want to do this thing. And yet, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.
The life and death of Jesus provide for us, His followers, example after example of how to live the joyful, yielded life He has waiting for each us. Does that joy elude you? It’s helpful to ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we might align ourselves more fully with His will. He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth, truth He has provided for us, in His Word.
Take a look at just the first two phrases from the prayer that Jesus taught his followers. See if it doesn’t speak to you, today, on this very good Friday.
Notice how straight away, before we ask for anything, we worship, by recognizing even a little bit about Who it is we are praying to, anyway. First off?
Our God is holy.
The Lord’s Prayer
Pray then in this way:
Our Father, Who are in heaven,
Hallowed by Thy Name.
Matthew 6:9
“Oh yeah”, our self-focused minds recall. It actually isn’t just about us. He is SO holy, SO perfect, SO majestic, that to start straight off blabbering away about us and our world, and this mess, and this grief, etc., just won’t do. No.
We pause. We reflect. We worship.
Ask For The Best
Then, Jesus teaches, we go ahead and ask. But what are we asking God for? Is this where we get to ask for help—for healing, or provision, or justice, or strength, or escape in this struggle we face? Not yet. First, we are taught to ask for something better; in fact, for the very best.
We ask…for God, for Himself. We pray for Him to come. We pray for His presence, His way, His will to be accomplished. It is, after all, the best.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:1
This directive from Jesus is so powerful, because in it we we learn straight off how to prioritize life.
His Kingdom, His Will, His Way
The Kingdom of God
Christ spoke of it so often! It had come down, with Christ, and remains here, in His church. We are in alignment with His spoken will when we work to usher it in more and more, by our submission, our obedience, and our dedication to Him. So we pray for it:
May Your kingdom come into this world!
May Your kingdom come into my church/community/family!
May your kingdom come into my heart, more and more,
As we give everything over to You,
In perfect submission, trust, and rest.
Have Your way, holy Lord!
His Will Be Done
Wait…not “My will be done?” Alas, that is the place most of us live, if we’re honest.
We want our way, ever like a small child, stomping our foot, or whining in pathetic tones for God to answer our prayers. Perhaps this is why God’s gentle correction lies within the very beginning of the Lord’s Prayer. Right up near the front, the first thing we are instructed to pray “Thy Will Be Done.”
Because His way is the best way. It is the only way.
Praying God’s will over your painful loss is one of the hardest things you may ever do. It is common to mankind, though, this struggle. We want to escape the pain, we want healing from the illness, we want to be set free from the ugly fallout left from the sinful acts of another. We want justice restored, balm for our brokenness, and peace in our torment. Of course, we do!
And does He not know it? Ah, yes, my friend, indeed, He does. That is why praying for His will is in fact the very best prayer. We want His way in our lives. His perfect way.
To pray for God’s will to be done, means that I will no longer delude myself into believing that the locus of control is mine.
To pray for God’s will to be done, means that I will demonstrate that I trust Him.
To pray for God’s will to be done, shows that I am committed to Him first, and that I am indeed His child — a trusting, humble, yielded son or daughter of the King.
Today’s worship song is perfect for today, for Good Friday. It traces the painful feelings of a young mama (Hillary Scott) who lost her wee child to miscarriage. Her heart cry is not unlike our own voices, echoing our prayers, in whatever our losses might be.
Catch these truths that Scott proclaims in the bridge to her song, Thy Will Be Done. May this song bless you on the very Good day.
I know you hear me,
I know you see me, Lord
Your plans are for me,
Goodness you have in store.
So, thy will be done.
Thy will be done.
Writer: BERNIE HERMS, HILLARY SCOTT, EMILY LYNN WEISBAND
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
