“After this manner therefore pray ye … Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” - Matthew 6:9-10
In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus gave us a model prayer that many erroneously refer to as The Lord's Prayer. It isn't His prayer, it is the prayer that He taught to His followers. In that prayer, we find something that we tend to omit from our prayers. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Do we really pray for God's will to be done?
Before His arrest, Jesus went to the garden and prayed. The weight of the world seemed to be on His shoulders. Realizing the extremely painful hours that awaited Him, Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Notice the tagline of His prayer: “... nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” In other words, He prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.”
It is one thing to say those words in a prayer, it is another thing to really mean them. Jesus faced the greatest agony possible with the realization that this was the Father's will for Him.
If we were honest, most of our prayers are more like this: “Not Your will but mine be done.” We spend a great deal of time in prayer trying to convince God to do things our way. We think that if we can inform Him of a situation, surely He'll respond the way we wish. Or if we can convince Him of the need, He will see things our way. Of course, He knows the situation better than we do. He knows the need far better than we can describe it.
Most of the time, we don't pray, “Thy will be done,” because we're afraid where His will could lead us. When a loved one is sick, or finances are dwindling, we pray for God to change His will to match ours. We're afraid His will may lead us to grief, pain or loss. Honestly, sometimes His will does lead us in valleys and through deep waters. We want to avoid them at all costs.
Yet we must confess that our greatest growth as Christians have come through adversity, not during easy times. We've grown closer to God when problems and pain have come our way, not during the good times.
The fact is that we are afraid to fully surrender to God and His will. When we sign a contract, we tend to read every word carefully before signing. True surrender is signing the bottom of an empty page and telling God that He can fill in the contract as He wishes. Whatever He wants is fine with us. Most of us are unwilling to do this on a daily basis. We'd prefer to read the contract and have the power to mark out the things we don't like. We want veto power. Of course, this is not total surrender. If we were honest, we'd have to confess that we want our will to be done rather than His.
I've heard many preachers say that God will never force us to do anything we don't want to do. Jonah would testify otherwise. He didn't want to preach at Nineveh. When he finally did go there, his heart wasn't really in it. I have to shamefully admit that there have been times I've done God's will, but did so kicking and screaming all the way. Each time, I was reminded afterwards that His will was much better than what I wanted to do.
Real faith is signing a blank contract daily and telling God to fill it out as He wishes. Can't we trust Him with the day ahead? If we can trust Him with our eternal future, can't we trust Him with the unseen path ahead of us? Faith is more than just believing that God exists. Faith is trusting Him for all things, taking Him at His Word and relying on Him for everything. It takes strong faith to say, “Not my will, but thine be done.” That is the kind of faith He is looking for.
I have to admit that this isn't easy. Our goals, dreams and aspirations can get in the way. Our sinful flesh wishes to be satisfied at all times. Our pride wishes to point the spotlight on us rather than the Lord. It is a daily battle.
It is wrong for us to be suspicious of God's will. To be wary of God's will is to mistrust God. It is wrong to think that God is trying to harm us or mistreat us. There are glorious blessings that can only be enjoyed as we live and walk in His will. At the same time, His will may lead us in dark areas. It may lead to persecution, pain or problems. Yet through it all, He is with us and promises us a glorious future with Him.
Why are we afraid of the will of God? It is better to walk through valleys with the Lord than to dwell on mountain peaks without Him. Where He leads will be better than any destination we may plan. If required, it is better to suffer in the will of God than to thrive outside of it. In His will, everything works together for our good. So trust Him today. Yield to Him in full surrender.
Today, let's pray as we are taught: “Thy will be done.”
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