THE LOVELINESS OF GOD'S WILL
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"May Your will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." Matthew 6:10
When my soul is tossed on the rough waves of the troubled sea of this life — if I can but cast out the anchor of hope into the depths of God's blessed will — it holds fast at once, and the winds and the waves are rebuked.
Dear Father, I thank You that You have made Your will so dear and precious to me! Once, in the midst of darkness and unutterable sorrow, You enabled me to say, "He has done all things well!" And now, though the days are calmer, the fast-revolving years bring round the time of sad memories, and I look back, and say it still, "He has done all things well!"
"May Your will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven" My God, I bless You for the most welcome and soothing thought that, while the dear one You have taken from me is joyfully doing Your will in Heaven — I, by Your tender grace, may be doing the same on earth. I cannot do it as perfectly; but I may do it patiently, humbly, and acceptably. Lord, make this my daily desire and delight! How near this hope brings me to my beloved! "He is with Christ — and Christ is with me;" there is but the veil of flesh between us, and that may be rent asunder any day soon, and then we shall be "together with Him."
"May Your will be done." This resting in the will of God, is one of the most comforting and blessed experiences of the Christian life. To say, "May Your will be done" — not in a reluctant or compulsory way, as if we were shrinking from some inevitable pain — but with a sincere and glad conviction that our dear Father is really doing for us what is best and most loving, although it may not look so to our dull eyes — this is glorifying to Him, and supremely consoling to us.
God's plans and purposes for me, and for you, dear reader — were all made and determined from the beginning. And as they are worked out day by day in our lives — how wise would we be if, with joyful certainty, we accepted each unfolding of His will — as a proof of His faithfulness and love! When once I, as a believer, can say from my heart, "This is the will of God concerning me" — thenit matters not what the "this" is — whether it be a small domestic worry, or the severance of the dearest earthly ties — the fact that it is Hismost blessed will — takes all the fierce sting out of the trouble, and leaves it powerless to hurt or hinder the peace of my soul.
There is a vast difference between the murderous blows of an enemy — and the needful chastisement of a loving father's hand! The Lord may make us sore — but He will bind us up. He may wound — but His hands make whole. How often has the Lord to break a heart — before He can enter into it, and fill it with His love. But how precious and fragrant is the balm which, thenceforward, flows out of that heart to others! Dear Father, how many of Your children can truly say, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray — but now have I kept Your Word!"
"May Your will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven!" Lord, can such a thing really be? The attainment seems so high, so Heavenly, so impossible! Yet, if it were not within our reach, You would not have taught us to pray for it. Doing the will of God from the heart — must be at least the reflection, the copy — of the perfect obedience of the saints in glory. Oh, to be thus beginning the service of Heaven — while yet on earth! Practicing here — to be made perfect there! We are but learning the laws, and manners, and customs of the land where our eternal inheritance awaits us! Say, my soul, are you thus diligently preparing yourself for your citizenship in Heaven?
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