“Just pray that God’s will be done,” someone once advised me as I was struggling about how to voice my prayers to God over a pressing issue. Though I'd read through the Lord’s Prayer many times and memorized it as a child, the thought struck me afresh that day. It was a wonderful relief to put away all of my concerns, hang them under the banner of this new prayer and move on to something less stressful.
But, as I traveled through the weeks ahead I sensed a build up of frustration over uncommunicated thoughts and ideas. I went before the Lord, brought up this issue and without much thought just said, “And may your will be done,” like it was of no real concern to me. The problem was that internally I had my own ideas of how I hoped things would turn out. I also had an equal set of fears over what might happen if God didn’t answer like I thought he should. Instead of dealing with these nagging concerns, I determined that God was calling me to be more spiritual about my struggles, quit talking about them and move on. That is when the Lord began to show me that I needed to continue communicating my heart with him, along with praying that his will be done.
I began to wonder: Why does God want us to ask him for specific needs and desires? Since he already knows everything, he certainly doesn’t need us to inform him. And, if his will is going to prevail anyway what is the point of stretching my brain over prayers that may indeed run contrary to what he has determined. As I wrestled with these questions, God began to show me that he delights in his children talking with him, asking him questions and even missing the mark in their prayers if it means they are seeking his face in the process.
God often waits until we ask him for specific needs before he answers. Remember the Canaanite woman who asked for healing for her demonized daughter? Jesus tested her rather doggedly to see if she would boldly persist in looking to him for help. In fact, most of Jesus’ healings were in response to specific requests. Of course he didn’t need them to ask in order to heal them – he already knew their heart’s cry. He allowed them to ask, even plead, so that in their desperation they would recognize him as the source of not only physical healing but of true salvation.
The same is true for us. If our prayer only consists of the plea --your will be done -- we are not sharing the deepest dreams and longings of our hearts. Certainly it is good and right to desire God’s will be done. But, God is interested in the condition of our hearts. If deep inside we feel resentful, fearful or angry about how he might handle our situation and we try to hide that by reciting a generic prayer, he is certainly not pleased. He doesn’t need our sacrifices; he wants our hearts (2 Cor. 8:5). If the very Son of God felt the pull of his own heart from the path of suffering, though sanctioned by his own Father, how much more will we struggle. It is sin to pretend that we don’t have conflicting desires and to appear resolute before others to accept whatever God issues in life if we haven’t first wrestled in prayer and yielded our hearts to him.
We do desire God’s will in our innermost being if we have his Holy Spirit indwelling us (Phil. 2:12). Scripture says that if we have the Spirit of God we are a new creation, and old things have passed away. Paul reminds us in Colossians that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). But our flesh, which has been crucified with him, still tries to rule our hearts. Unless we walk in the Spirit, we will yield to its desires (Gal. 5:16). Additionally, we are but dust. In our humanity we are prone to weakness and fear which often keeps us from fully trusting in God’s unseen promises for the future.
Wrestling in prayer with God is not just normal, it’s essential to having a healthy relationship with him. I’m not talking about the kind of wrestling Jacob did, though at times I have done that too. No, I’m talking about the kind of praying where we put aside all pretensions and pour our hearts out like water before him, holding nothing back. It’s the gut-wrenching, emotion-gripping prayer that enables us to come to a place of release before God so that we can with a yielded, trusting heart cry, “Your will be done.”
David prayed this way in the Psalms when he was worn down from being pursued by his enemies and needed God’s help desperately. Abraham pleaded with God on behalf of the people of Sodom Gomorrah and especially for his nephew Lot. Job poured out his heart to God when his life was torn apart and God seemed to have disappeared. Hannah went into the temple to plead for an open womb and was so overcome with emotion the priest mistook her for a drunken fool. Elijah held nothing back when he communicated with God his despair over Jezebel’s pursuit of him. Jonah didn’t try to gloss over the ugliness of his heart condition when fully admitting to God in prayer that he simply didn’t like the Ninevites and was angry that God intended to save them. Jehosaphat went unreservedly before God when told of the advancing armies coming to destroy them. He pleaded with God for deliverance, reminded him of their obedience to him in the past and of God’s promise to take care of them.
We see each of these men and women (not super saints, just regular people like you and me) responding to the trials and crises of life with passionate, heart-rending prayer. They loved God and were called by him in service. And it was precisely because of this love that they were able to pour their hearts out to the Father.
To pray the prayer “your will be done” is certainly the right prayer to offer up to God. It’s just not complete without the giving of the heart. As we share our hearts, we go to God’s Word asking for him to shine light on our situation. His Spirit then penetrates our hearts enabling us to take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, giving us grace and strength to walk by faith and to submit to his perfect will.
The apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. We don’t know over what period of time these petitions evolved. We only know that after the third request he received an answer from the Lord and was able to embrace his will for him. Jesus, when in the Garden of Gethsemanie, offered up three sets of petitions to the Father praying each time, “…if it is possible may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Habakkuk was perplexed over God’s seeming injustice in allowing wickedness to prevail among the Israelites, and he told him so. The Lord graciously answered him, but Habakkuk was still in a stupor over God’s providence and uttered a second complaint. Again, the Lord replied with more details of how he planned to deal with the rebellious people. Upon hearing God’s wisdom, Habakkuk was humbled and came to a place of acceptance and full submission to God’s plan. He said, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled (he was terrified over God’s impending justice). Yet, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nations invading us. …yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.” This amazing response came from the same man who three chapters earlier was complaining against God’s seemingly skewed providence. Though he was horrified of what God had said would take place, a major change has occurred in his heart.
David struggled in prayer to accept God’s will for his life. He received news from the prophet Nathan that because of his adultery his son would die. Yet when his son became ill, “David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground…and he would not eat any food.” This went on for six days. David could have responded with vain resignation upon hearing of his impending discipline, but his heart was filled with sorrow and longing that he had to communicate with God. When he learned from his servants that the boy had died, he was able to submit to God’s will. This acceptance was demonstrated by his actions as he got up from mourning, washed and changed his clothes and went to the temple to worship God.
I don’t know about you, but I am challenged by his boldness and trust in God. And I’m convinced that whatever hurt or disappointment or loss we are holding on to that God is calling us to freedom as we take our burdens to him. There is no quick, easy formula for releasing those burdens to him. But, the joy that awaits us on the other side as we yield our hearts to his perfect will far outweighs the struggle.
