May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear your alarm go off in the morning?
More than likely, when that irritating alarm sounds, what you want to do at that moment is stay in that comfortable bed, but what you’ll will yourself to do is to get up and get going. “There’s a big difference between wanting and willing. Wanting is one thing. Willing is something else.”[1]
Jesus talked about God’s will in the prayer that He taught us to pray. It contains this request: “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We long for God’s will in our world. But it’s when we extend that prayer to “May your will be done in my life as it is in heaven,” that things get uncomfortable. As one writer pointed out, “If we really want God’s will to be done and His kingdom to come, the chances are pretty good that my will is going to have to be undone every once in a while.”[2]
Having our wills undone is painful. Josh has found himself betrayed and divorced. His heart aches with loneliness. He’s searching for a relationship but everyone at his church seems to be married. He wants to be with someone–anyone, he sometimes thinks. But in his pain, Josh waits. He wills, “God, I will do what you want, not what I want.”
Even Jesus had to agonize over wanting and being willing. Before His death He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Luke 22:42).
Today, we can pray “God, make us willing to be made willing.”
[1] Elliot, Elisabeth [@elisabethelliotfoundation]. “The Shepherd’s Leading.” Instagram, September 30, 2024, https://bit.ly/3OxrPOI.
[2] Ibid.
