The Lord's Prayer: Exploring the Depths of GodSample

The Glorious Will of God

It is both amazing and amusing to hear people talk about the will of God. Most of the time, when people speak of the will of God, it is with some degree of resignation. It's as if we've worked and tried and prayed for a certain outcome, all to no avail. Then, at some point, we resign ourselves to the will of God. We say something like, "Oh well, may Your will be done, O Lord." Then, we try to brace ourselves for whatever may come next.

We somehow seem to live as if the will of God is a bad thing or at least a hard thing. Something will go the way we did not want it to go, and we'll shake our heads and sadly say, "I guess it is the will of God." We are reluctant to surrender all aspects of our life and future to God for fear of what His will for us may be. Break up with our boyfriend, go into full-time ministry, and worst of all, the mission field, perhaps? When we finally surrender a situation to God, it is often the last resort. We choke back the fear and anguish to whisper to God, "May Your will be done."

The truth is that the will of God is the most glorious thing we could ever experience. It may not always be the most instantaneously rewarding or the easiest thing. Still, it is, without question, the best thing possible.

To think otherwise is an insult to the character of God and evidence of limited Biblical understanding. If we believe God's will is somehow less or worse for us than our will, then we're saying either that God does not truly love us, He is not as wise as we are concerning our lives, or He is powerless to accomplish good in the situation. All of these are not only foolish but utterly inconsistent with all we know to be true about God.

The Bible makes it clear that God's will is a good thing. The will of an all-powerful God who is only good and who loves us with perfect love is going to be the very best thing for us. That's why Jesus says that we should pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Just imagine if the glories of heaven were to be experienced in our lives and situations! The full, perfect, complete will of God is heavenly. It is what we long for, and it is something we should, with joy and exuberance, pray for.