In the mid to late 1960’s, I preached the Gospel as a lay evangelist. One of my favorite illustrations was about a farmer, named Jed, who was attending to his roadside farm stand. A neighbor, George, walked by with a gunny sack and Jed asked where he was headed. George said he had a male pig in the sack to sell to another neighbor of theirs. After a brief conversation, George started to walk on and Jed said, “See you at church Sunday, Lord willing.” George turned and said, “Why are you always saying that. Do you think God cares about every little detail of your life? I will see you Sunday – period.” Then he stomped off. A while later, George came back staggering, with his hair standing up and his clothes torn and muddy, dragging the empty sack. Jed asked him what happened and he said in a shaky voice, “It started raining so I took shelter under a tree until it slacked up. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the tree and I thought I was a goner for sure. I dropped the sack and the frightened pig ran away.” Jed said, “Wow! I’m glad you survived. What are you going to do now?” George replied, “I’m going home, Lord willing.” I hope it doesn’t take a bolt of lightning to make us realize the importance of God’s will in everything we do.
I have written before that what we call the Lord’s Prayer is a template Jesus gives His followers to teach us how to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The real Lord’s Prayer is the prayer He prayed in the garden the night He was betrayed. He was sweating blood at the very thought of the torture and painful death that was lying ahead of Him, and yet He prayed, “Nevertheless, your will be done.” As a young Christian, I was taught to always pray, “If it be your will.” Since then, I have met Christians who say that is a sign of weak faith. They feel we should boldly pray for our needs with complete confidence that it is God’s will for us. We speak of being “Christlike” in our Christian life. There is nothing more Christlike than seeking and obeying the will of our heavenly Father, regardless of the consequences.
I have had Christians pray for my arthritic knees to be healed. When it didn’t happen they claimed that I must be blocking the healing somehow. When I prayed about my knees, I was told by the Holy Spirit the same thing God told Paul about his thorn in the flesh. “My grace is sufficient for you.” On the other hand, prayers for my sciatic nerve pain and my recovery from Covid-19 were answered. They were definitely praying in accordance with God’s will.
The closer we draw to God, His will becomes our will, but that process will not be completed until we are in the eternal presence of God. Until then, I will continue to seek God’s will in everything in my life and humbly obey.