Wanting What God Wants

Wanting What God Wants

...Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10b

Christ understood the will of God. He also understood that as humans we at times have grave difficulty aligning our will with the will of God. Although we are not going to pursue it today, this lies at the root of Christ’s prayer in the garden, ‘Not my will but Yours be done.’ As Christ teaches us to pray, He comes to the phrase ‘Your will be done.’ When we pray this, for what exactly are we praying? We are, in essence, saying that we want what God wants. As Christ teaches us to pray this, He is not telling us to pray something that He is not willing to pray Himself, or to desire something that He does not desire Himself. Christ is no, ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ Savior. What He teaches us to do, He does Himself. What He teaches us to pray, He prays Himself. What He teaches us to want, He wants Himself. So Christ, with utter consistency, teaches us to pray, ‘Your will be done.’ This will be the challenge and exercise of a lifetime. Every day will bring us some new opportunity to pray, ‘Your will be done.’ In the course of life we will encounter circumstance after circumstance each of which will require, first, that we pray, and second, that we pray, ‘Your will be done.’ This will be a challenge to our faith, especially when the will of God is not coincidental with our will. Today, let us look to the Christ, Who leads us by His Own Example, to pray from the heart, ‘Your will be done.’

Our Wise and Sovereign God,
we rejoice that Your Will is perfect.
We praise You that Christ our Savior has lived before us,
as the perfect example of how to desire what You desire.
Teach us to want what You want.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning