Day 48 - Issue 22
Mark 10:38 NLT
But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
At school I played rugby. I was short but fast and a terrier in the tackle. My aspiration was to play in the first team and I slowly paid my dues and made my way onto the selection list. I remember the day I looked at the noticeboard to see who’d been selected, and I had. I relished my opportunity. The coach spoke of the size of the opposition and also their faultless winning run that season. I knew I would be just fine, even perhaps hoping for a moment of glory. I recall the coach questioning me about my capacity to manage such large and strong opposition. Still I was full of bravado.
Apart from one try-saving tackle that nearly killed me, the game saw my opposite winger running through me, over me, seldom round me. I was battered and bruised, my pride more than perhaps my body. The match had not played out in practice as I’d rehearsed it in my mind.
Reality can be a tough teacher. Here James and John are invited to consider the consequences of their bold request. Of course, they had no knowledge of what Jesus was referring to. However, the truth is that at Jesus’ arrest they were conspicuous by their absence. Their courage failed them, as I’m sure it would us. James did go on to drink the cup of martyrdom while John endured persecution through to a ripe old age.
I’m quick to decide how God’s best course of action might look. This becomes the kernel of my prayer and eventually I become blindsided by my own perception. I lose the capacity to discern God’s voice since I am wrapped up with my own observations. Isaiah prophesied, ‘“your ways are not My ways’ [declares the Lord]” (55:8, HCSB). Still I imagine that my aspiration to serve God is sufficient for God to grant it through my fervent prayer.
QUESTION: Have you promised God more than you can deliver?
PRAYER: Lord, save me from my own bravado and help me trust your plans for my life.
