As I mentioned in my last few posts, I am exploring the Lord's Prayer by subsection.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
For me the main focus here is in support of one if of the main points I made in yesterday's post: Your will be done
You might assume that someone is praying because they have something in their own will that they want, and they may assume that God might grant them their magic wish. However, Jesus did us a great favor when he gave us this simple prayer and then almost from the beginning, teaches us to ask God for His will.
If He is Holy, Perfect, Set-apart and all of those names from the last post, then you definitely want His perfect will- even if it seems contrary to your own. A good thing to keep in mind before heading down your grocery list of requests.
There is one aspect of this that requires a personal choice: It might be tough to sincerely ask for God's will in our lives if we don't really believe that He is good and that he is for us and not against us.
Some people believe that, "everything happens for a reason". Others outright believe that God does cause bad things to happen to his children, while others think it is sacrilege to say God intentionally does bad things. I know I've heard scripture to defend all of these positions. But in my opinion, God never causes bad things to happen to his children, but in this fallen world, sometime He does LET bad things to happen, but then promises that "All things work for those who love the Lord." I've seen this firsthand on more than one occasion- including an accident in which a ladder failed on me-- leaving me with a broken back.
His grace is sufficient for me and I am grateful.
Amen