“It’s God’s will,”
she said.
“God told me this is what I am supposed to do.”
I knew she wasn’t going to like it. I knew her and I knew what she was stepping into, and it was not a match.
Fast forward two weeks.
“It didn’t work out,”
she said. Change of course. Back to the drawing board.
Did God change his mind? Or did she hear someone else’s will and call it “God” in the first place? It is easy to confuse our own heart’s desire with the whispered message of God’s will.
Our will vs. God’s will — it’s kind of like an arm wrestling contest. Who’s gonna win?
When Martin Luther prayed “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer he admitted how hard he fought God’s will and used the prayer to ask God to help him lose the match:
“O Father, do not let me get to the point where my will is done. Break my will; resist it. No matter what happens let my life be governed not by my will, but by yours.” (LW 42: 44-48)
The Heidelberg Catechism’s treatment of this line of the Lord’s Prayer (Question 124) is a milder echo of the same idea.
The heart of it is the assertion
“Your will alone is good.”
By implication, then, my own will is a problem.
“Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey your will…”
Those who have read the opening segments of the Catechism or its treatment of the law will know that this is nothing new. The effect of sin in human life is to leave us broken, unable to follow God’s will purely even if we know it.
But is it even so easy to know what God’s will is?
In 1563 a Reformed Christian did not expect to hear God’s will whispered in a still, small voice. One started with what God had already made plain.
Jesus summarized God’s will in two texts from the Old Testament: God’s overall will is for us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength; and God’s overall will for us is for us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Everything we do should help fulfill those basic directions. For details, see the Ten Commandments.
Beyond the basic instructions for human living found in the Bible, they were convinced that God has already been involved in your daily life. Our work is not some neutral thing — God has actually called each of us to the roles and tasks of our daily living.
Employer or employee, laborer teacher or manager, spouse or single, parent or child, God has called you. God has called you to these roles and will use you for his purposes there. We pray God will
“Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to…”
Once we know God’s will the Catechism takes us to the attitude with which we carry out God’s will. We are to obey God’s will
“…without any back talk.”
We are to live out our callings
“…as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.”
But all this is not moralizing or rules. It is a prayer. We ask God to help us find, and do, and rejoice in God’s will. We know we need the help. And we know that God’s will is the way to life and joy.
What do you think about when you pray “Your will be done”?
What might life, faith, and church look like if we lived into Heidelberg’s way of praying this?
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Excellent! Very well written.
Thanks Bill! I’m grateful — and hope you’ll keep coming back and joining the conversation.
I don’t know when or why i came to believe what you wrote above about God’s will but one day after reading different books on the subject, it came to me that i do God’s will when i love God and love my neighbor as myself. Anything that i might do that doesn’t answer these questions, means that i am outside of his will.
Thanks, Myra. Make’s sense, eh? Scripture gives lots of other specifics about God’s will but loving God and neighbor captures the “Why?” of each specific.
There are, of course, lots of cases of very specific guidance from God — but the question of loving God and neighbor is the measure there too: If the little whisper of guidance doesn’t express something in those categories, can it really be God’s will?
One thing I think about when I pray “your/thy will be done” is that even when I do not like the result, it’s still better than my will! This is the essence of Heidelberg’s definition of faith as trust–trust that God works for goodness and light even in those times when all seems hopeless. As I have seen elsewhere today, it’s a reminder that “the opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty” (Anne Lamott).
In light of tragedies such as the tornado damage and loss in Oklahoma, many folks question God’s will, or erroneously attribute those tragedies to God’s will. Similarly, many folks, faithful Christians included, question God’s will when trials befall them, or even when they find themselves doing things they find to be unpleasant–whether related to employment or family relations or some other circumstance.
God is not the author of sin, or of tragedy, or of natural disasters. God’s will works for healing and justice and wholeness and liberation from the plague of sin. God’s will is already done in heaven, and the results are heavenly. If we strive to do God’s will on earth, the results will approach those of heaven.
Thanks, Jody. I think that your first paragraph is exactly the point of the Catechism when it declares that only God’s will is good.
Lots of prayers for those suffering in Oklahoma — that God may be found present as redeemer and comforter.
Gary, we just finished a book study at my home church last night on “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis. We spent some time discussing this quote from the book, which reminded me of your blog post:
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.”
Sobering, eh?
Also: a friend posted this comment alongside a link to this article today: “‘Any god powerful and attentive enough to save survivors’ lives should also be powerful and attentive enough to stop the catastrophe in the first place. ‘ Finally, a sensible media response. I am so sick of the phrase ‘thoughts and prayers. ‘” http://mobile.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/prayers_for_oklahoma_wolf_blitzer_and_other_journalists_should_leave_god.html
As I read the article, which is all about God’s will in good things and bad, I knew I didn’t accept that God causes things like tornadoes to happen, or destruction to come upon people in this way, but I did find myself struggling with how I’d explain that I do accept that the people who survived can and should give thanks to God. Thoughts?
Thanks for sharing this, Jill. Thoughts on providence and tragedy are better outside times of tragedy. In times of grief, I just weep with those who weep, and know that God is present as comforter and redeemer.
my church group at this time is studying the Heidelberg Catechism. Body and Soul by
M Craig Barnes. Very interesting. Your post is most appreciated. And God’s will be done
God’s will, indeed what a wonderful way for us to live our lives, in the embracing arms of God’s will. I know that if we were to find that wonderful place, then peace would be likely the word to best describe our lives.
What would church look like? Well, Love is the key word, hard to not move to a better place in any situation if LOVE is the word that is guiding your motives and your life.