Continuing from by Larry W. Tippetts * Prayer, Personal Revelation, and Your Journal
From My Journal—Thy Will Be Done
“We sang, ‘Thy will, O Lord, Be Done,’ for our sacrament hymn today. It occurred to me that we utter that phrase when we assume that what we want may conflict with what the Lord whats, and we humbly try to submit to His will. Isn’t it also that what we want and what God wants are in harmony. Our desire that Jared’s cancer be arrested and life lengthened to watch his children grow up, to teach and love them during these formative years. Is it not possible that God’s will is the same? And if it is, then that will happen as we pray, ‘Thy will be done.’ Faith in God is to trust in His perfect will.” (August 30, 2009)
In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10; emphasis added). It is obvious that God’s will is not always done in the kingdoms of the world. This is primarily because of the agency granted to the wicked and because of natural law, which results in accidents and natural disasters. It is helpful for me to distinguish between God’s permissive will (what He allows or tolerates) and His directive will (what He desires or intends). When I pray for God’s will to prevail in a given circumstance, I hope for his directive will (what he desires or intends). When I pray for God’s will to prevail in a given circumstance, I hope for his directive will to be done, but in may be that He chooses to permit an outcome that may seem less desirable to me, in order to allow the purpose of mortality to be accomplished. My faith in God’s eternal purposes will hopefully carry me through the incongruities of my temporary difficulties. Again, even in those areas of where God’s directive will is not done, His omnipotence will enable Him to turn all evil, suffering, and injustice to our good. However, that future promise does not always make the immediate pain go away.
Eventually, God’s will will always be done, but that is the future, in the Millennium and after. Meanwhile, we can only seek to align our will with His to the best of our abilities. A major hurdle in learning to love God is to also love His ways, which are often different from our own.”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). To trust God is to trust His ways. His ways are always perfect because they will always bring about eternal good.
