Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/79

Contributor - Herman Jonker

Title - His Will

Topic - Meditation

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" Matthew 6:10ble

What did our Lord mean by these words as He taught His disciples to pray" Why does He consider it so vitally important that we do God's will?

I suppose that most of us have been asked at some time to pray for a person who was seriously ill. In some cases these were massive efforts of prayer which involved almost the whole church. Of course this is wonderful as long as we pray within God's will.

Pray within God's will. What, however, if we are asked to pray for the healing of this person and God in His infinite wisdom and love has decided to take this person up into His Glory? It seems that in such a case it is as if we are trying to twist God's arm by our massive efforts. Is this right? Are we not terribly arrogant in our prayers and in our attitude towards God when we try to tell God what He should do? As we check back in the gospels what did Jesus ask of His disciples and what was His attitude over and against God? In Mark 2:14 we read that Jesus told Levi, the tax collector "Follow me". No ifs or buts just "Follow 'me", and he did. He could have refused but it was his free will to follow Jesus.

God created us with a free will. That was a vital ingredient in creating us in His image. Yet, He expects us to be totally obedient and to submit our will to His. This was even true for Jesus while He was here on earth.

At our weekly bible study the question came up: "Could Jesus have gone against His Father's will, or, in other words, could He have sinned?"; and we came to the conclusion that He could have.. Would, for instance, the temptations Jesus went through as related in Matthew 4, not have been a mockery if he could not have sinned? Yes, He could have, but He did not. Hallelujah! It was almost as if the heir of angels were holding their breath, wondering whether Jesus, the last Adam would fall as the first Adam did (1 Cor.: 15:42 ff). Why do we read so often in the gospels that Jesus was in prayer? Because He was searching for the will of His Father, not to ask special privileges for Himself

As Jesus was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion, we can sense deeply how hard it was even for Him, who was without sin, to do the will of His Father. Yet it states very clearly that He wanted to do His Father's will and He did! Praise the Lord!

We must realize that God created us with a free will because love is only possible if we have a free will. It is also important to understand that it was only because Jesus had a free will that He was able to bring about His wonderful plan of salvation.

Who then are we, sinful men, who continually have to contend with our carnal, egotistic self to prescribe to God what ' He should do? God is perfect in every way. He is sovereign, all powerful, all wise and above all, totally loving. He only knows what is best for us. He knows and we should know that we can only have peace and joy, yes a taste of heaven, as we do His will.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20,21)

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