Thy Will Be Done
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them a sample prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer, which contains this line of adoration and supplication, “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” When we pray, we should remember that God is Almighty and Sovereign. As AW Pink put it, God does as He pleases, when He pleases, and whenever He pleases. God’s will is done in Heaven. God’s will is done on the Earth. What do you think about that? That bothers some people, I know. It concerns some Christians because they bristle against anything that seems to take away their liberty or freedom. Others don’t like it because they believe that God only does things we like or find acceptable. For example, it is God’s will when we get a promotion, but not God’s will if we get fired. God provides the beautiful sunset, but not the thunderstorm, unless there is no damage. But that’s not how God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. God rules all. All things have a purpose, whether we can see or understand it or not.
What’s the alternative? No God, and nothing is in control? That’s foolish talk (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). God is powerless to stop evil? That’s not the God of Scripture (Daniel 4:35). God does as He pleases. God has ordained the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). To deny God’s sovereignty is to deny the God of Scripture. Of course, some things come to mind that we may have questions about when meditating on the perfections of God. Scriptures answer some questions, and others are not. We go as far as Scripture takes us, and when we get to the end, we stop, worship, and adore the infinite majesty of the Lord of hosts.
Jesus taught us to pray that God’s will is done because it’s an adoration of God and also a comfort to God’s people. God is in control. I love how the Heidelberg Catechism puts it in the sections from the Lord’s Day 9 and 10. “I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this vale of tears. He is able to do this because He is almighty God; He desires to do this because He is a faithful father…We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from His love. For all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.”
No matter what I face today, I can trust in the God who does all things according to His pleasure and loves me with everlasting love. An almighty, faithful, loving Father whose will is always done.
