Desiring God's Will - Learning from Others

 – from Arthur Walkington Pink, The Lord’s Prayer.

“The text now before us contains a prayer that we might be brought into complete accord with God’s revealed will. We do the will of God when, out of a due regard for His authority, we regulate our own thoughts and conduct by His commandments. Such is our bounden duty, and it should ever be our fervent desire and diligent endeavor so to do. We mock God if we present this request and then fail to make the conforming of ourselves to His revealed will our main business. Ponder our Lord’s solemn warning in Matthew 15:1–9 (cf. Matthew 25:31–46 and Luke 6:46–49).

“Thy will be done in earth.” The one who sincerely prays this necessarily intimates his unreserved surrender to God; he implies his renunciation of the will of Satan (2 Tim. 2:26) and of his own corrupt inclinations (1 Pet. 4:2), and his rejection of all things opposed to God. Nevertheless, such a soul is painfully conscious that there is still much in him that is in conflict with God. He therefore humbly and contritely acknowledges that he cannot do His Father’s will without Divine assistance, and that he earnestly desires and seeks enabling grace. Possibly the meaning and scope of this petition will best be opened up if we express it thus: O Father, let Thy will be revealed to me, let it be wrought in me, and let it be performed by me.

From a positive perspective, when we pray, “Thy will be done,” we beg God for spiritual wisdom to learn His will: “Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts.… Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes” (Ps. 119:27, 33). Also, we beg God for spiritual inclination toward His will: “I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.… Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies” (Ps. 119:32, 36). Furthermore, we beg God for spiritual strength to perform His bidding: “Quicken Thou me according to Thy Word.… strengthen Thou me according unto Thy Word” (Ps. 119:25, 28; cf. Phil. 2:12, 13; Heb. 13:20, 21). Our Lord teaches us to pray, “Thy will be done in earth,” because this is the place of our discipleship. This is the realm in which we are to practice self-denial. If we do not do His will here, we never shall in heaven.

“As it is in heaven.” The standard by which we are to measure our attempts at doing God’s will on earth is nothing less than the conduct of the saints and angels in heaven. How is God’s will done in heaven? Certainly it is not done reluctantly or sullenly, nor is it done hypocritically or Pharisaically. We may be sure that it is executed neither tardily nor fitfully, neither partially nor fragmentarily. In the heavenly courts, God’s will is performed gladly and joyfully. Both the four living creatures (not beasts) and the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5:8–14 are depicted as rendering worship and service together. Yet heavenly adoration and obedience are rendered humbly and reverently, for the seraphim veil their faces before the Lord (Isa. 6:2). There God’s commands are executed with alacrity, for Isaiah says that one of the seraphim flew to him from the Divine presence (Isa. 6:6). There God is lauded constantly and untiringly. “Therefore are [the saints] before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple” (Rev. 7:15). The angels obey God promptly, wholly, perfectly, and with ineffable delight. But we are sinful and full of infirmities. With what propriety, then, can the obedience of celestial beings be proposed as a present example for us? We raise this question not as a concession to our imperfections, but because honest souls are exercised by it.

First, this standard is set before us to sweeten our subjection to the Divine will, for we on earth are set no more demanding task than are those in heaven. Heaven is what it is because the will of God is done by all who dwell there. The measure in which a foretaste of its bliss may be obtained by us upon earth will be determined largely by the degree to which we perform here the Divine bidding. Second, this standard is given to show us the blessed reasonableness of our obedience to God. “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word” (Ps. 103:20). Then can God require less of us? If we are to have communion with the angels in glory, then we must be conformed to them in grace. Third, it is given as the standard at which we must ever aim. Paul says, “For this cause we … do not cease to pray for you … That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing …, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col. 1:9, 10; 4:12). Fourth, this standard is given to teach us not only what to do, but how to do it. We are to imitate the angels in the manner of their obedience, though we cannot equal them in measure or degree.”