Thy Will Be Done: When Your Will and God's Will Collide

There are a few words in the Lord’s Prayer that most of us say faster than all the rest.

Thy will be done.

You’ve said them at bedsides and at gravesides. You’ve said them on Sunday morning without slowing down. And yet those words in Matthew 6:10 may be the hardest words in the whole prayer to actually mean. Saying them costs nothing. Meaning them will cost you your own way.

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10)

Before going further, it helps to say what God’s will is not. God’s will is not to strip you of your free will and turn you into a puppet. And it is not God’s will to send anybody to hell. He wants every person to come to repentance and place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

So here is the tension. You have a will. God has a will. And those two do not always point in the same direction.

What happens when they collide? And how do you go about bringing yours into line with His?

The pitfall of pride: David counts his army

You can start to believe it was your will, your power, and your might that got you where you are. David did.

Just before 2 Samuel 24, Israel has been winning. They have gone out against army after army and wiped the floor with them. Then comes this:

“And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.” (2 Samuel 24:1-2)

Who gave Israel those victories? God did. But David started to see them as his own. His power. His army’s power. His leadership as king.

Typically a count like this went out before taxes were raised or before a draft for war. For David it was a chance to swell himself up a little higher. Look how many men I can call up. Look how many are at my beck and call to fight my wars.

Even Joab, who was no saint, could see it was wrong:

“And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” (2 Samuel 24:3)

The king’s word prevailed anyway. Joab and the captains went out, and nine months and twenty days later they came back with the number:

“And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.” (2 Samuel 24:9)

That’s the problem right there. David was lifted up with pride, and the moment he was, his will stopped lining up with God’s. He thought his own strength was worth something. He started thinking he could do things without the Lord.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

And God judged him for it.

Sorry, not sorry

When the numbers came back, something in David knew.

“And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” (2 Samuel 24:10)

That sounds right. But I think it was one of those sorry-not-sorry moments. You’ve probably had one. I know I have.

Watch what he does when God hands him a choice:

“So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.” (2 Samuel 24:13-15)

Three months of fleeing his enemies would have fallen on David himself. Instead of taking the consequence of his own actions, he passed it off onto the people. Send the pestilence, Lord. That’ll be our punishment.

Where’s the repentance in that?

You are the one who deserves it

I want to sit on this a moment, because it ties straight into how a person gets saved.

When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, there has to come a time when you stand before Him and say: I am the sinner. Not them. Me. You, your very individual self, deserve the punishment for sinning against a holy God. And that punishment is death and hell.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

It isn’t enough to say, “Yes, I’m a sinner, but these other people deserve the punishment.” Salvation starts with this: I have done wrong. I inherited sin. I am imperfect before a holy God, and I deserve the consequence. Then, in humility, you cast yourself on the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the blood He shed on the cross for you, and you put your faith in Him and Him alone.

There has to be that recognition of your own guilt.

And notice one more thing. David’s pride did not stay with David. His desire to have his own will done fell on seventy thousand other people. Pride never stays private.

Prayer is where your will goes under His

So how does all this tie into prayer?

We talk about bringing our petitions to the Lord. We talk about praying “thy will be done.” But what is the underlying purpose of prayer? It is to position your will under God’s.

Nowhere is that clearer than in a garden called Gethsemane.

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:36-39)

The Lord Jesus Christ knows what is coming. He knows the cross is coming, and that the sin of all humankind, past, present, and future, is about to be placed on Him. And for the first time in all eternity, His fellowship with God the Father is going to be broken. You and I cannot even begin to understand what that separation meant to Him. He was in anguish over it.

And He prays, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

That prayer is an example to you. Lord, I know something awful may be coming, or something awful already came. If You’ll take it away, please do. But if not, Thy will be done.

Now watch the shift between His first prayer and the ones that follow:

“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” (Matthew 26:40-42) “And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.” (Matthew 26:44)

The first time it was, if it be possible. By the second it was, if this cup may not pass away from me, thy will be done.

He was not trying to get out of going to the cross. He knew what had to be done. Nor was He ever going to do anything other than the Father’s will. He is God, and that will is His as well. But in that garden He shows you what absolute surrender looks like. No matter the outcome, no matter the road ahead, the answer is surrender.

He prayed it knowing the road ahead

Turn the page and see what He was surrendering to:

“Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” (Matthew 26:67-68) “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.” (Matthew 27:29-30)

He knew every bit of that back in the garden. He knew the suffering and the hardship. And knowing it, He still prayed that God’s will be done.

How about you?

The Christian life is not rainbows and unicorns and happy all the time. That isn’t what it is. So are you willing to go before God and say, No matter the road, no matter the persecution, no matter the hard times, Thy will be done, Lord, even if His will includes those hard times?

When God says no: Paul’s thorn in the flesh

Paul had to answer that question too.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-8)

I don’t know exactly what that looked like. But I looked up that word buffet, and it’s the same idea used when the soldiers buffeted Jesus. They beat Him. That’s the picture here: a messenger from Satan beating on Paul. I can’t imagine what that was like day after day.

So Paul besought the Lord. That’s supplication, pouring himself out and giving it all to God, asking three times to have it removed.

Here is the Lord’s answer, and Paul’s answer to Him:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Paul’s response is surrender to God’s will, no matter the outcome. And the outcome was that the beating would go on, day after day. Paul comes to the place where he says, All right, Lord. If this is what You have for me, I may not understand it. I don’t get it. But Your will is what I want, because Your will is perfect.

That doesn’t mean Paul was happy about the hard times. It means that even through them, he had joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can have that too.

A petition, not a demand

Earlier this morning I preached from 1 Samuel 1, and I can’t get Hannah out of my head. She is praying so hard for a son that her lips are moving with no sound coming out, and Eli the priest decides she’s drunk.

“And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:15-17)

Look at that word: petition.

When you go before the Lord in prayer, you come with a petition. Not a demand. Not a list of things you expect Him to answer your specific way. A petition means the answer may come the way you hoped, or it may not. You may see it as a no. But however God answers, His answer is perfect.

When my kids come to me and say, “Dad, can I have some candy?” that’s a petition. They’re hoping, believe me. But they know Dad is going to say yes, or Dad is going to say no.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

That is how you bring your will into line with God’s: you pour out your heart as a petition, knowing He has the right to answer, and resting in the fact that His answer is good.

What “good” really means in Romans 8:28

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

A lot of people twist this verse to mean that all good things will come to those who love God. That is not what it says. It doesn’t promise that everything will end up peachy, with no problems for the person who loves the Lord.

So what is good? God getting honor and glory. God being magnified before the world. You drawing closer to Him in whatever circumstance you’re in. Those things are good, even when the outcome isn’t the one you wanted.

And you get to prove it.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

You have the opportunity to live it out, to show the world that God’s will is good and perfect. But you only prove it by surrendering your will to His.

Delight in Him, and your desires change

“Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalms 37:4)

When you delight yourself in the Lord, enjoying your time with Him, seeking His face, doing everything you can to draw close and do His will, something remarkable happens. The desires of your heart start to become the very things God wills.

The closer you draw to Him, the more your heart wants what He wants. And the more your heart wants what He wants, the more you’ll see those desires fulfilled, because they match what the Lord had for you all along.

Pray “Thy will be done” and mean it

So come back to those words you’ve said so many times.

Thy will be done.

David counted his army and let other people pay for his pride. Jesus fell on His face in Gethsemane and said, Not as I will, but as thou wilt. Paul begged three times, heard God say no, and took pleasure in his infirmities anyway.

Which of them do your prayers sound like?

Bring God your petition. Pour out what’s agonizing you and what’s heavy on your heart. Then put your will underneath His, whatever it costs.

Pray it again.

Slowly.

And mean it.

Adapted from a message preached from Matthew 6:9-10.