Thy Will Be Done

How many times in your life do you think you’ve repeated “The Lord’s Prayer”? Hundreds? Thousands? All I know is it’s probably a lot. I memorized it as a kid and have been saying it since. I know some people pray it daily, others pray it in a group, and some dissect it because it was a model for us to pray. When we do something repetitiously, our minds often glaze over the words we are saying or reading. In short, they can lose their meaning and freshness to us.

As I was reading “The Lord’s Prayer”, one phrase jumped out at me given where our nation and world is right now. In Matthew 6:10, Jesus taught us to pray, “May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (NLT). The Message says, “Set the world right; do what’s best.” What an incredible prayer that each of us should be praying right now. What would happen if we all started praying for God’s will to be done, instead of us trying to convince everyone if our will was done, it would be best?

I’m sure your social media looks like mine right now. It’s full of people trying to convince others that their way is right, and if they choose the other way, it will be the end of life as we know it. Article after article, video after video, my feed is filled with us trying to have our own will accomplished. What if we put that much time into seeking God’s will for our world? What if we prayed for Him to intervene to set the world right, and to do what’s best?

I don’t mean this as a Jesus Juke. I truly believe each of us should be praying for God’s will to be done more than we are trying to convince others of what we think is His will. I’ve thought a lot about David’s response when he had to face punishment for taking a census. In II Samuel 24:14, he said, “I’m in a desperate situation! But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” I don’t know what’s going to happen next month, but I know that I want God’s will to be done, and for Him to show us mercy no matter what.