Thy Will or My Will

It seems that every facet of life continues to be permeated by the fact that we are still fighting this horrible virus, and things have not yet returned to “normal.”  For many, though, normal will be different, because they have suffered the greatest loss during this time and will never again hear their loved one’s voice or feel the touch of their hand.  With the pandemic comes an increased focus on suffering and death.   But, if we live long enough, we all encounter great loss.  A wife loses a husband, parents lose a child, or perhaps our own bodies and minds undergo disease and stress, testing our faith.  We struggle with the question, “Where is God in all the suffering?”

And so, we come to God with our requests, begging him to intervene and turn situations around, to heal bodies, to allow people to live, believing He has the power to change things if He chooses.  I have prayed this so many times in recent days, for those suffering from Covid but also for those with cancer or other dire situations.  I have come to God with my own desires, my plan for how He could make it all better.   Maybe you have too. 

He wants us to come to him with our needs (Phil. 4:6), but I have found a change has been necessary in my thinking and praying, as I have navigated through these trying times.  The Scripture tells us God is Sovereign and that our days are known by him and are numbered (Psalm 139:16).  Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done.”  From this, we can infer that we are to submit to his plans, his will, his purposes on the earth.  I have had to ask myself, do I pray in this way, or do I in essence pray, “MY will be done”? Do I want His will to be done, His Kingdom plans to be accomplished, or do I think I know best?   

 Of course, God cares about our desires and longings, but we must be sure our desires and longings align with His, and we must ultimately submit our will to His.  The Bible tells us that He made us and has the very hairs of our heads numbered.  In the same passage we are reminded that we are much more valuable than the sparrows, and yet not even one of them falls without His notice (Matthew 10:29-31). Each and every life is precious to him.   You are precious to Him, and your loved ones are precious to Him.  He is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  That is His will, for each one to come to Him, and live for Him, until the day He calls us home. 

May we say like Paul, “Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21).