Matthew 6:5-15 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' 14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Review – The kingdom is not the Church
We are studying verse-by-verse through the Sermon on the Mount and we are currently working through the Lord’s Prayer. Last week we studied the second petition in that prayer – Your kingdom come. After that sermon a couple people asked me about whether it would be appropriate to simply say that the kingdom of God is the Church. And as I said in the Q&A, that is very close to being accurate but it does not account for some of the ways the kingdom is spoken about in Scripture. If we take the word “kingdom” in its normal sense and understand it to refer to the realm of God’s rule, or the realm in which Christ is obeyed, I believe that fits the biblical language. Now, obviously there is a very close connection between the Church and the kingdom in this age because the Church is the realm on earth in which Christ is obeyed. But I think it is going too far to define the kingdom that way, because the kingdom is a broader concept. For example, there is a future aspect of the kingdom that is not yet in place. If we define the kingdom as only the Church then “Your kingdom come” means “Let the Church arrive.” And if that is what it means, then there is no reason for us to keep praying the Lord’s Prayer because the Church is here. Nor would it make sense for Jesus to tell us a few verses later seek first His kingdom and righteousness (Mt.6:33). It would be odd for Jesus to tell the Church to seek the Church. But if the kingdom is the realm in which Christ is obeyed it makes sense for Him to tell us to seek that first, and then define it further with the word righteousness. Seek first more and more obedience to Christ and righteousness – they are essentially the same thing.
The Church is here but the final form of the kingdom is not yet here. That is why Jesus spoke of entering the kingdom as a future event – even for believers.
Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord…
Jesus is talking about Judgment Day. And He is saying that on Judgment Day those who did the will of the Father will enter the kingdom. So the current form of the kingdom is the realm in this world where Christ is obeyed. And the final, ultimate form of the kingdom will be the new heavens and new earth where Christ will be universally obeyed. And when we pray Your kingdom come we are praying for both – that in this age more and more people would submit to Christ with greater and greater obedience, and also that the future, final, ultimate stage of the kingdom would arrive.
What is God’s Will?
And that brings us to the next request in the Lord’s Prayer: Your will be done. We are to ask God to do His will. What does that mean? Why should we ask God to do His own will? Does He need us to tell Him that? Won’t He do it anyway? Or will He do something other than His will unless we ask Him to go ahead and do His will?
Very often when you hear someone pray for God to do His will it is because they do not know what to pray for. They are at a loss – there are two options and they have no idea which one is better, so they just throw up their hands and say, “God – just do Your will.” So saying “Your will be done” is kind of like saying, “Que Sera, Sera – whatever will be will be.” Is that what Jesus is teaching us to do here? Do not even make a specific request – just tell God to go ahead and do whatever He is going to do anyway? Do we approach God’s will mainly from a standpoint of ignorance? No, not at all.
Acts 20:27 I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
The whole will of God has been revealed to us. The world approaches God’s will from the standpoint of ignorance, but we do not. We know His will. But that still leaves us with the question of what it means to pray for it. Is God’s will always done? Does God always accomplish His will? Or does He sometimes not accomplish His will?
Is God’s will always done?
If I asked for a show of hands on that question my guess is about half of you would say yes and the other half would say no.
No
The people who say, “No, God’s will is not always done” would point to passages of Scripture like
2 Peter 3:9 He is patient with you, not willing that anyone perish, but all to come to repentance.
Or they might point to
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God's will that you should … avoid sexual immorality
If it is God’s will that we avoid sin, then does it not follow that when we commit sin we are not doing God’s will? Whenever God commands something, obviously that is His will, and so if I do the opposite of what He commands I am doing the opposite of His will.
If a loved one dies and we automatically assume, “It must have been God’s will,” what are we to make of Lamentations 3:33?
Lamentations 3:33 he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
Or those people who say God’s will is not always done might point us right here to the Lord’s Prayer and say, “If everything that ever happens is automatically God’s will by definition, then why do we need to pray for God’s will to be done?”
I would say those are some pretty compelling arguments. In fact, I am convinced by them. I agree with the half of you who would say, “No – not everything that happens is God’s will.”
Yes
What about those people who would argue the other side? They insist that God’s will is always done. Even when someone disobeys God’s commands, God still uses that very disobedience to accomplish His will. No doubt those folks would point to passages like
Isaiah 46:10 My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I have planned.
And in the context God is talking about what was being accomplished through the evil deeds of an unbeliever. When Joseph’s brothers disobeyed God and sinned against Joseph he said, You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good (Gn.50:20). God was accomplishing His will even through the sins of the brothers.
Acts 2:23 This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God's will and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death
Acts 4:28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
The people who crucified Jesus were doing the opposite of what God had commanded, yet it still ended up being God’s will.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will
What percentages of all the events that take place conform to the will of God? One hundred. It does not say He works out some things in conformity to His will, or most things – it says all things. How could we argue against that? Ephesians 1:11 is crystal clear that absolutely everything that ever happens is God’s will – zero exceptions.
I have to say this other half of the church is making a pretty compelling argument. In fact, I am convinced. They are right – Scripture teaches that God’s will is always accomplished.
Two uses of “will”
So, do we have a contradiction on our hands? Some passages clearly teach that God’s will is not always done, and other passages clearly teach that it is. Have we finally discovered the very first contradiction in the Bible? No. If you are searching for a contradiction in the Bible you are going to have to keep looking, because this is not a contradiction. And the reason it is not a contradiction is very simple – the word “will” is not always used in the same way. Just like the English word “will” the Greek and Hebrew terms sometimes refer to a decision and other times refer to a desire. If someone says, “OK, I’m willing to sign this contract even though I don’t like it one bit,” that is “willing” in the sense of a decision, and not a desire. This is not what I desire, but I have decided to go ahead. But if someone says, “My neighbor put up a fence, and he did so against my will” that is the will of desire – he did not want the fence. So sometimes “will” refers to a decision and other times to a desire. And the biblical concept of will is the same. Sometimes it means God’s desire or pleasure, and other times His decision.
Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace …21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight
That is the will of desire.
Isaiah 53:10 it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer
That is the will of decision, not desire. The Father did not enjoy punishing the Son, but He did decide to do it. Whenever you see a reference in Scripture to God’s will you need to discern, “Is this talking about the will of decision or the will of desire?”
And when we make that distinction it clears up all the confusion. Is God’s will always accomplished? It depends on which use of the term “will” you have in mind. Are God’s decisions always accomplished? Yes. Are God’s desires always accomplished? No.
2 Peter 3:9 He is … not willing that anyone perish
That is the will of desire – God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and yet, it happens.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God's will that you should … avoid sexual immorality
That is the will of desire – God does not want us to commit sexual sin, but it happens.
Lamentations 3:33 he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
That is the will of desire – God does not enjoy bringing affliction into your life, but He does it anyway when it is what is best for you.
Isaiah 46:10 My will will stand, and I will do all that I have planned.
That is the will of decision. All that God has decided to do He will do and nothing can stop it.
Acts 2:23 This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God's will
God decided to hand Jesus over to be crucified.
Acts 4:28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
That is the will of decision.
Ephesians 1:11 [He] works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will
That is the will of decision – God’s perfect plan cannot be derailed.
Hermeneutics – words and context
Whenever you read the Bible it is crucial that you not just look up the definitions of words, but that you think carefully about how a particular word is used in a particular context. This is a very important principle for understanding your Bible. The same word is not always used in the same way. And if you take a word in one text and import that into another context you will end up with all kinds of error. This is a very common problem among teachers in Bible studies. They need some material for their study and so they become concordance crazies. They look up a word in the concordance and assume it means the same thing in every verse where it appears. When people do that they end up forcing their own ideas onto the text. In one place it says a day is like one thousand years, so they rip that out of context and force it into Genesis 1 and say each of the days of creation was one thousand years (or a billion). They do not say Jesus was in the tomb for three thousand years, or that in Noah’s flood it rained for forty thousand years and forty nights. Just because a word or phrase is used one way in one context does not mean it is used that same way in every context.
And if you do not understand that principle you will never understand what Scripture teaches about the will of God. For example, in Matthew 12 a Christian is anyone who does the will of the Father.
Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
But we just read in Acts 4 that the wicked men who crucified Jesus were doing the will of the Father.
Acts 4:28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
If you try to mesh those two verses together you come to the conclusion that the people who crucified Jesus must have been saved because they were doing the Father’s will. But that would be a serious error, because the word “will” is used in different ways in those two texts. Jesus was saying “Anyone who does what the Father desires is My brother or sister,” and the Acts passage is saying, “Those wicked men did what the Father had decided would happen.” Always remember – meaning does not come from the dictionary. Meaning does not come from the words. Meaning comes from the author – whatever he meant to communicate is the only thing his words mean.
Both crucial for comfort
So if you lose a loved one is that God’s will? Yes, it is God’s decision; no, it is not God’s desire. And both of those are crucial for our comfort. You have to know that it is not God’s desire. If you think God is indifferent about your suffering, or enjoys causing your grief, you will have a very twisted conception of His nature. But on the other hand, you also have to understand that it is part of God’s perfect plan. If you think your loved one died because of some random fluke, and it was not God’s perfect plan, then their death has no meaning. But if it is part of God’s perfect plan then you can place your confidence in the goodness of what God is accomplishing. So to really bring comfort we have to understand – Was this God’s will? No, it was not His desire or pleasure; yes, it was His decision and perfect plan. We have to understand both of those so we will know that God is in control and we are not at the mercy of random chance or evil men. But on the other hand God hates putting you through suffering and only does it if it is absolutely necessary and it is in your best interests.
Lamentations 3:33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
He does decide to bring it when it is what is best, but He does not enjoy doing so.
This is the will of desire
So which way is Jesus using the word “will” in the Lord’s Prayer? Desire or decision? Are we praying, “God, bring about Your perfect plan” or “God, bring about Your desires”? I think the best clue to answering that question is in the very next line – on earth as it is in heaven. It seems to me it has to be the will of desire, because God’s perfect plan is always being carried out on earth just as much as in heaven.
Daniel 4:35 He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth
That kind of will – the will of His decision, is carried out just as much on earth as it is in heaven. But His desire is not carried out on earth like it is in heaven.
Jeremiah 32:35 They built high places … to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind
That phrase “enter my mind” is literally nor did it arise on My heart. Sacrificing their children to a false god was not what God desired.
Ezekiel 18:31 … Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone
God’s decisions take place on earth just as much as in heaven, but not His desires.
So Jesus is saying, when you pray, ask that God’s desires be carried out on earth like they are in heaven. God will accomplish His perfect plan on earth, and He can do so through good things or bad things. He can accomplish His plan through Agape falling into false doctrine, turning away from Christ and then being severely punished on Judgment Day. Or He could accomplish His plan through Agape remaining faithful to Him, which is what He desires. When we pray, “Your will be done” we are asking for that second scenario. When you present the gospel to someone, God will be glorified whether the person accepts it or rejects it. It glorifies God when people repent and are saved, and it glorifies Him when sinners are punished. But it is God’s desire that they repent, and that is to be our desire too. So we pray, “Let things happen on this earth according to Your desire and pleasure – like they do in heaven. Let your will be done on earth like it is in heaven.”
How is it done in heaven?
God has a will in heaven
How is God’s will being done in heaven? Did you know that God has a will for what should take place in heaven and it is taking place? Heaven is not a place where everyone is just sitting around doing nothing. See if you would agree with this logic: God’s will is being done in heaven, therefore something is being done in heaven. There is activity going on in heaven. God wants some things done up there and they are getting done. My grandfather died in 1995. He was a pastor, and so prior to 1995 he was a very busy man. But I think he is probably a lot busier now – working hard at whatever projects the Father has for him up there right now. He is filled with unhindered joy as he carries out the will of His Father in heaven.
Our standard is heaven, not earth
And that is our standard. We do not take our cues from earth. The standard for God’s will being done is not set by the average church or the average Christian or the average religious person. We are satisfied with nothing less than the level of fulfillment of God’s will that takes place in heaven.
And that is a high standard. In heaven everything happens exactly like God wants it to happen because there absolute obedience.
Psalm 103:20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
God’s desires are performed in heaven through eager, willing, joyful obedience. God speaks, and they act. There is never a discussion. That is not the way it happens on earth. God prods and woos, and disciplines and trains us and appeals to us. But in heaven when He says something to someone they cannot wait to do it.
And obedience up there is not just immediate and eager and willing, it is also constant.
Revelation 7:15 they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple
And it is not just constant, it is also genuine – from their hearts. What makes God happy really does make them happy.
Luke 15:10 there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
When the Father rejoices they rejoice. The angels do not do the Father’s will merely because of fear of punishment or because they are compelled to – they really want the same things God wants because God wants them. Someone once said, “There is only one will in heaven.” I do not agree. All the angels have a will. They are all capable of desire and decisions, but all their desires and decisions all in complete and glad harmony with God’s desires and decisions. And so Jesus teaches us to pray for that to happen on earth.
When will that happen on earth? It is happening now in some measure and after the Second Coming it will happen in full measure. And when we pray this we are praying for both. Just as our pray for the kingdom involves the increase of the kingdom here and now AND the hastening of the final form of the kingdom, so it is with prayer for God’s will to be done. We pray for both. On the one hand we say, “God, cause more and more people to obey You. And cause the saints to obey you in greater and greater ways.” And on the other hand we also pray, “God, send Your Son to eliminate all rebellion and set up the kingdom where there is no longer any disobedience to Your will.”
Why pray for it?
And there are two reasons we should pray for that. The obvious one is we should pray for that because God will answer our prayers. His will of desire will take place on earth more, and He will be obeyed more on earth if we pray for that than if we do not. And the Second Coming will come sooner if we pray for it than if we do not. God answers prayer. So that is one reason why Jesus wants us to pray for this.
But there is another reason. When Jesus tells you to pray for something He is telling you to want that thing. He is teaching us what our desires should be. The issue is not that we mouth these words, “Your will be done.” The point is for us to want the will of God so much that we ask for it in prayer. One of the keys to improving your prayer life is to want what God wants – desiring God’s desires.
Psalm 40:8 I delight in doing your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.
Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God
This is what God meant when He called David a man after His own heart. It was the fact that David loved His will.
Act 13:22 I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.
This is why God is so eager to answer the prayers of His saints. We love what He loves and so He is eager to do the things we ask for in prayer. Someone once said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of God’s eagerness.” He is eager to answer our prayers because we pray for what we want and what we want the most is whatever God wants.
Love and faith
Love
And we want what He wants for two reasons: love and faith. Wanting whatever God wants is pleasing to God because it is the perfect combination of love and faith. The more you love someone the more you desire what they desire. Imagine a newlywed couple deciding where to go on vacation. The husband wants to go to the mountains. But he finds out that his wife really, really likes the beach. He is not crazy about the beach, but when he finds out how much his wife desires that, suddenly he finds that that is where he wants to go – not because he likes the water or the sun or the sand, but just because he loves the thought of his new wife being really happy. He pictures her having a really great time and it just makes him want to go there. So he takes her to the beach, not because he is sacrificing his preference for hers, but because now the beach really is his preference.
That is how it is with us and God. More than anything we love His smile, so we long for His desires to be fulfilled
2 Corinthians 5:9 So we make it our goal to please him
When Jesus announced He was leaving and returning to His Father His Disciples were upset.
John 14:28 If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father
When the Lord gets what He desires all those who love Him will be happy because the One they love is getting what He desires.
Faith
So this is a function of love. And it is also a function of faith. Imagine you went on a whitewater rafting trip for the very first time, and as you approach a particular rapid the guide says, “Do you want to take the left side or the right side?” And you say, “I have no idea. Which side do you like?” And the guide says, “Are you kidding? I live to go down the left side of this rapid!” Suddenly you desire that left side. But in this case it is not because of your love for the guide. In this case it is because of your faith in the guide. You trust him. He knows this river, he knows what is fun, so if he prefers that left side, that is where you really want to go because you know it will be best. That is trust. You desire what he desires because you trust his judgment. Whatever his will is, you know you will love it.
God’s will is our food
That was Jesus’ attitude. For Him, doing God’s will was like eating food.
John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.”
A lot of you are on diets. You are trying to cut back on everything that tastes good. And it is good to have some moderation and to watch our weight, but don’t get so carried away with dieting that you get so you are not enjoying food. Enjoyment of food is a huge part of life, and a huge part of understanding Biblical imagery. Food gives you energy when you are weak. It nourishes your body and gives you health. It gives you strength. It satisfies hunger pangs – so you go from the feeling of emptiness to the feeling of fullness. And it tastes good. And Jesus says, “That’s what doing My Father’s will is to Me. It brings nourishment and strength and energy into My life. It satisfies the deep cravings I have in My soul. And it tastes good - it’s the pathway to pleasure and joy.” Nothing in the world is more satisfying then doing the will of God. God’s will is the left side of the rapid, and if we trust the Guide we will be eager to run that left side even though we have no idea what it is going to be like.
So you desire what your wife desires because of your love for her. And you desire what your river guide desires because of your faith in him. When it comes to our Father in heaven we have both love and faith. We are delighted more than anything by God’s delight. Nothing is more desirable to us than God’s pleasure, because of how much we love Him. And because of how much we trust Him, we are sure that whatever He desires is going to be best. And since God is glorified when we love Him and He is glorified when we trust Him then He is doubly glorified when we desire whatever He desires.
Definition of a true believer – one who does the Father’s will
This is right at the core of what it means to be a Christian. Some of you may be familiar with the debate about the relationship between faith and obedience when someone becomes a Christian. It is known as the “Lordship Salvation” debate. And one side says, “You can’t require obedience when someone is coming to faith in Christ because that confuses the issue. That makes them think they are saved by works. God does not require any works – just faith. Therefore it is possible to become a Christian and never repent; never bow the knee; never be willing to submit to Christ as Lord.” The other side of that debate says, “It is true that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. But submission to Christ is the effect that grace has on the heart. So if a person refuses to obey Christ that shows that he does not really have faith.”
So which side is right? Is obedience required or optional? Jesus was very emphatic about the answer to that question. According to Jesus, the only people who are saved are those who do the Father’s will.
Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
Doing the Father’s will is synonymous with being a Christian. In Matthew 21 Jesus said the prostitutes and tax collectors who had repented were entering the kingdom ahead of the Chief Priests because they were doing the will of the Father and the Chief Priests weren’t (Mt.21:28-32). If you do not do the Father’s will, you are not saved.
Willingness to do His will
Does that mean you have to carry out His will perfectly? Of course not – only Jesus does that. But it does mean that in order to come to God at all there has to be a willingness to do His will.
John 7:17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
That is why there are some people who can never seem to figure out if the Bible really is God’s Word. No matter how much proof you give them, they are never quite sure. That happens when deep down a person is not willing to do God’s will. If the willingness is not there, the eyes go blind.
Internalizes obedience
This is such an important truth because it internalizes obedience. Jesus could have said “Whoever obeys My Father’s commands is My brother or sister,” but instead of “obeys My Father’s commands” He said “does My Father’s will.” They are the same thing, but pointing to the will internalizes it. It reminds us that the issue is not our actions but our heart.
Ephesians 6:5-6 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
We obey God, first and foremost, because we love His will. That is why we do everything we do.
Gives joy to obedience
First His name, then His will
One of the clearest, most obvious contrasts between us and the world is our attitude toward the will of God. We love God’s will. Christians constantly ask the question, “How do I discover God’s will for my life?” We love God’s will, but the world hates God’s will. If you are watching a movie and there is some mention of God’s will in the movie it is pretty much guaranteed that it will be coming out of the mouth of either a lunatic or some self-righteous religious snob, or a superstitious, mindless imbecile. God’s will is not a popular concept in our culture. It is the object of scorn, ridicule, and anger – never delight.
The reason the world hates God’s will and we love God’s will goes back to the very first words in the Lord’s Prayer – Our Father. The world does not know God as Father. They do not know Him at all, and so in their mind His will either does not exist, or it is an unwelcome, impersonal force imposing itself on mankind. So when Jesus teaches us to pray, before saying anything about His will Jesus speaks of His name. If you do not know His name you will not desire His will.
Alexander Maclaren: “It makes all the difference whether the thought of the name, or that of the will, of God be the prominent one. If men begin with the will, then their religion will be slavish, a dull, sullen resignation, or a painful, weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings. The will of an unknown God will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous necessity, a mysterious, inscrutable force, which rules by virtue of being stronger, and demands only obedience. There is no more horrible conception of God than that which makes Him merely or mainly sovereign will.” But when we know God’s name – who He is and what He’s like – when we know Him as our Father, “Then our obedience becomes different, and instead of being slavish is filial; instead of being reluctant submission to a mightier force, is glad conformity to the fountain of love and goodness; instead of being sullen resignation, is trustful reliance; instead of being painful execution of unwelcome duties, is spontaneous expression in acts which are easy of the indwelling love. He who begins with ‘Thy will be done’ is a slave, and never really does the will at all; he who begins with ‘Our Father, hallowed,’ is a son, and obeys from the heart.”
burnout
And I think understanding this is the key to avoiding burnout. When your task in life gets to be burdensome, oppressive, draining, tiring – the solution is not to take a break. The solution is in delighting in the will of God. You get fulfillment from your work not mainly from what you are accomplishing on earth, but from the fact that you are carrying out the desires of your Father in heaven. That is what will enable you to plow through the obstacles in ministry and the headaches at work and the hassles at home. It is not, “Oh, I’m accomplishing this or that” but “I’m doing things that my Father in heaven loves.”
Conclusion: How to love God’s will (love God)
So what should you do if doing the Father’s will is not delightful to you? What if the things God has called you to do in your life feel burdensome or draining? What if the things God loves and the things God commands are not like food and drink to you at all – they are like a ball and chain? How do you solve the problem of not loving what God loves?
You go back to the beginning of the prayer. If you do not love His will, go back to His name. Learn more of God. Learn what He is like. Spend yourself trying to see His glory. Stop reading your Bible mainly to learn how to behave and start reading it mainly to see what is so delightful about God. Every time you see an attribute of God in His Word study it and meditate on it and savor it and gaze upon it until finally your eyes begin to open to the wonder of it. The man who does not desire the vacation that would make his wife happy does not really love his wife. The paddler who does not desire the run the guide desires does not really trust the guide. If you do not love God’s will then immerse yourself in the truth about Him until you have enough love for Him and faith in Him that your greatest delight becomes whatever He desires.
Benediction: Hebrews 13:20,21 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
