NOT MY WILL

“God’s plan for your life is happening right now. It doesn’t begin when you get married or when you get your dream job or when everything feels perfect. You are in the plan.” — Tara Leigh Cobble

Matthew 6:9-13
Matthew 26:36-46
1 John 2:16-17

The concept of “God’s will” was the hot topic of spiritual writers in the mid-80s. It seemed everyone had a definition of what “God’s will” meant, but few felt satisfactory.

With the right definition, we thought, God’s will would make sense and trusting it would be natural. Yet the complete trust that was sure to follow such an understanding remained, and remains, elusive. We spend much more time making sure that God has a substantial to-do list, so that He doesn’t mess with our lives too much.

The Lord’s Prayer mentions “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done…” We have said these lines more often than we can count. But do we really trust God to have His will be done? It comes down to control. Are we willing to give it up or not?

The Scriptures are filled with descriptions of God’s plans for us, how good they are, how pleasant and profitable. We still don’t trust Him though. He’s too much of a meddler.

One line has been said over and over in the last several months by my friend Marty: “God wants more for you than you want for yourself.” Just as we give a financial advisor control over our assets, God will manage our biggest investment, our life, better than we know how.

If He really wants more for us than we do, we should probably give Him more leeway. We’ve heard the Lord’s Prayer so many times, yet have such a problem with one of its most basic tenets. We still struggle with God’s call to release our to-do list, and fall into the good plan that He has for our lives.

Never was Jesus more relatable in his humanity than in Gethsemane. He was struggling with the pain that he knew was coming down the tracks. He even sweat blood. He asked God to take the suffering away, but in the end said the famous line, “Not my will, but thine.” He wanted to avoid the pain, but in the end, he submitted to God’s will.

Periods of pain in life are inevitable. Chronic illness, loss, and trauma bring ongoing trials. Yet somehow, the Lord gives us the faith to believe that He wants more for us than we even want for ourselves.

What events have caused you to tighten the grip on your life?
What stands in the way of releasing your life to God’s will?
What does this release look like?

Brad