Will

Recently I've once again been thinking about and seeking guidance regarding the question of God's will.  The questions started in the form of "Why?" They are questions I've asked before and heard others ask as well: Why do awful things happen to people?  Why do horrific things even happen to innocent children? Surely this is not God's will!  Yet, people pray for changes that don't come and they must continue living in difficult circumstances. Why?

And then I thought of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  If anyone has demonstrated God's power for miracles, it was Him. Yet, when his own time of challenge came, the "cup" was not removed. Despite his prayers, he had to go through the mock of a trial and the crucifixion.  He trusted God, and knew God was love and could perform miracles, and yet Jesus still went through very trying circumstances. 

And I remember the story of Job.  His godly life and prayers did not save his children or his crops or even himself from physical pain.  I'm struck that perhaps we have too often misunderstood the purpose of prayer.  

I once again find myself looking at "The Lord's Prayer" as found in Matthew 6 (see earlier blog here). Continuing from where I left off in my previous blog.  I read, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven."  I am once again reminded that despite our common conceptions, prayer is about bringing us into alignment with God's will, not about presenting God with a "to do" list!

I am taken to several verses in John where Jesus speaks of God's will: 

• John 4:34 - "Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.'" NKJV    
• John 5:30 - "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." NKJV
• John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." NKJV

And I realize - if Jesus is my example,

• My food should be to do the will of God and to finish His work.
• I should of myself do nothing, seeking not my own will, but God's.
• I am here not to do my own will, but God's.

How far from this example I stray sometimes!  And then I hear the words of the Bible in a different light: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Phil 2:13) and "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa 55:8-11)

It is not my job to sit and wail about where I have failed God in failing to listen to His voice and follow His will!  It is my job to once again take the time now to "Be still, and know that I am God". (Ps 46:10)  I can trust that God has the power to work His will in my life and that he will see this work to completion - it will not be in vain.

Thank you, Father for your work in me.  May your will indeed be done in the earth of my heart, and in the earth as a whole.  May I be open to allowing your will to work in and through me that I might also be able to say that I don't seek my own will but yours instead, and that my food is to do your will.  Is this the clue to healthy diet and weight control that I've been seeking, Father? That my FOOD is to do your will? Father, please continue the work you have begun in me and see it to completion. May YOUR will be done!