Your Will Be Done

Your Will Be Done

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. Luke 22:42

Some people have an evil will. It’s easy to spot because it doesn’t tolerate any opposition. Other people have another type of will that appears to be good but is actually evil. It can be recognized by its fruit—impatience. A truly good will, if it’s hindered, says, “O God, I thought what I wanted would be good. If it’s not to be, I’m satisfied. Let your will be done.” Wherever there’s conflict and impatience, there’s nothing good—no matter how good it may seem.

Besides these two types of evil wills, there’s also a good will that God doesn’t want us to do. This is the kind of will David had when he wanted to build a temple for God. God praised him for it, and yet God didn’t let it happen (2 Samuel 7:2–29). This was the kind of will that Christ had in the garden of Gethsemane. Even though it was good, his will had to be set aside (Luke 22:42). So if you would like to save the whole world, raise the dead, lead yourself and everyone else to heaven, and perform miracles, you should first seek God’s will and submit your own will to his will. You must pray, “Dear God, this or that seems good to me. If it pleases you, let it be done. If it doesn’t please you, let it remain undone.”

God often breaks a good will in order that a false, evil will won’t sneak in by appearing good. He does this so we learn that as good as our will might be, it’s still immeasurably inferior to his will. So our inferior good will must yield to the infinitely good will of God.