Submit to His will

Teach me to do your will,

For you are my God. (Ps.143:10)

What is God’s will regarding the battle you are facing? Jesus wrestled with the very same question in the garden as he pleaded with his Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” (Mt.26:39) Jesus dreaded the cost he would incur in his epic battle to free humanity from the wages of their sin by paying it all in full by his own death. Nevertheless Jesus said that he would submit to the Father’s will. How does God want to use our fingers and hands to accomplish his will? 

If it were up to us, all battles would be waged and won in a decisive, timely, tidy and victoriously glorious manner. Illness would be miraculously healed, adversaries would be silenced, relational rifts would be reconciled, inner wrestling would be soothed, and all of these done quickly. Though we know that these are possible, we also know that this is not always the case. What is God’s will as he trains our hands for war and our fingers for the particular battle we are engaged in? Are my desires, even my expectations for a particular outcome surrendered to and in keeping with His will?

“ Keep teaching us to desire and submit to your beautiful will, for you are our God and you alone are God.” This is how I might paraphrase this verse to emphasize that instruction in God’s will is a process and that God is God. God being God means that his will is higher, deeper, purer, more excellent, more far reaching, more to be desired than my preferences. His will is beautiful in ways that I can not fathom. His will cares for my desires but is not held hostage to them. Keep teaching us therefore to discern and desire Your will.