The
Lord’s Prayer
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God’s
Will in Me
It is well to pray
that God’s will be done in earth
as it is in heaven, for that calls
our minds to fields far and near
where God’s will is not being
done or even known, and where we
might be of some help. If we
Christians pray this prayer, we
cannot be inactive; for we have it in
our power to help answer the prayer.
When Jesus said, “This gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end
come” (Matthew 24:14), He was
depending on us to do our part. He
knew that such preaching was
necessary if God’s will was to
be done. By our work with our
neighbors, by our interest in
fields’ afar, we may in a very
definite way speed the day when
God’s will shall be done in the
earth.
There is, however, a
very personal application of this
prayer that is of more importance
than anything we can do for others.
That is accepting God’s will for
ourselves. If we do this and our life
becomes a God-directed life, He will
be enabled to use us in ways we do
not now understand or think possible.
In the abstract, it is easy to pray,
“Thy will be done.” Are we
willing to make it personal?
It must have been a
momentous disappointment for Moses
when he was put aside and not
permitted to enter the Promised Land
and Joshua was given his place. He
pleaded for permission to go in and
see the land, but his prayer was
denied. Deuteronomy 3: 23-27. As
for Joshua, God said to Moses,
“encourage him, and strengthen
him: for he shall go over before the
people, and he shall cause them to
inherit the land.” Verse 28.
Moses bowed to the
will of God, and on His behalf
“he gave Joshua the son of Nun a
charge, and said, be strong and of
good courage: for thou shalt bring
the children of Israel into the land
which I sware unto them: and I will
be with thee.” Deuteronomy
31:23. Moses did not enter the earthy
Canaan; he died and God raised him
from the grave in immortal glory.
Elijah must have been
much discouraged when after the great
day on Mount Carmel, where he did
mighty exploits for God and won a
signal victory, God rebuked him for
his cowardly flight from Jezebel, and
told him to put his mantle on Elisha.
However, he did not murmur. When he
found Elisha, he “cast his
mantle upon him.” 1 Kings 19:19.
However, God had not
forsaken Elijah. He and Elisha worked
together, until Elisha was fully able
to take over the work. Then one day,
as they walked along together talking
together, “behold, there
appeared a chariot of fire, and
horses of fire, and parted them both
asunder; and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings
2:11. Elijah’s work on earth was
done; so God took him to heaven.
It must have been hard
for Paul, the active and energetic
one, to sit still in prison day after
day and year after year. In the midst
of a busy and useful life he was
placed on the sidelines, his work
apparently done, though he was still
in the strength of manhood and
planning a worldwide work.
Alternatively, was his work done? No,
God was merely changing his work. He
had been so busy traveling and
preaching that he had not had time to
do the writing God wanted done. There
was yet a great deal of the New
Testament to be written, and Paul was
the man to do it. However, he was too
busy. He needed quietness and freedom
from the care of the churches.
Therefore, God arranged for him a
time of quietness, and Paul
immediately went to work. By writing
fourteen of the twenty-seven books of
the New Testament, he doubtless did
more good that he did during his
active ministry.
Paul was willing to be
set aside, and in his retirement he
did a mighty work for God. He had
learned in whatever state he was,
therewith to be content.
What shall we say of
John the Baptist? He had done a
valiant work for God in preparing the
way for Christ, and now that this
work was done, he was consigned to
prison and apparently forgotten. Did
envy and jealousy fill his heart with
discontent as a greater One had taken
his place? No, a thousand times No.
John said, “He must increase,
but I must decrease.” John 3:30.
Had Jesus forgotten him? “Among
them that are born of woman there
hath not risen a greater than John
the Baptist.” Matthew 11:11.
It is not easy to say,
“Thy will be done,” when
one is set aside. However, the men we
have mentioned had learned the
lesson. Therefore, Moses and Joshua
appeared together, and Moses
strengthened and encouraged Joshua.
Elijah and Elisha walked and talked
together, and the younger man was
instructed by the older. Paul
willingly changed his work and
accomplished more than ever.
Moreover, John cheerfully stepped
aside when the greater than he
appeared. All these accepted
God’s way, though it must have
cost some of them great sorrow. All
of them learned one of life’s
greatest lessons, to bow to
disappointment, to say, “Thy
will be done,” and cheerfully do
what God had for them to do. It is
not easy to be set aside. However,
this is the part of the program of
life. He that can bow to the will of
God, who can say from the heart,
“Thy will be done,” may be
set at another task where he can
still serve.
There may be those
among the readers who have been set
aside and resent it. Let us repeat:
This is part of life, a lesson that
all must learn. There may be wives
who have been put aside and are
passing through the experience of
loneliness and of not being wanted.
There may be grandparents who once
had a happy home where all were
welcome. Now they are given a rocking
chair in a corner and are given to
understand that they are not to make
themselves too prominent when
“company” comes.
There are those who
have held high office in state or
church or institutions. Their
counsel, which once was sought
eagerly, is not in demand any more;
they are outdated. The shock is
almost unbearable for some persons.
It is easy enough to
say that God’s will be done,
when all goes well. However, it is
not easy to say this when a loved one
is on the deathbed and hope is gone.
It is not easy to say it when we are
personally involved, when we are
incapacitated and feel we are in the
way and our usefulness is at an end.
It was not easy for Christ to say it
in Gethsemane. However, He did say
it, and a world was saved.
Frustrations and
disappointments are a part of life
and an important part. For in the
darkness God may be hid. If we relate
ourselves rightly to reverses and
“dis-appointments,” they
may become
“His-appointments.” If we
accept the disappointments as ordered
or permitted by God we may see
God’s will being done in our
reaction. Therefore let all pray,
“Thy will be done in me.”
“Give
Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
This petition does not
ask for luxuries, but for bread, the
barest necessities of life. The
historian Gibbon, in recording one of
the many famines in olden times,
makes the observation that some of
the delicate ladies in Rome learned
for the first time how little it took
to sustain life.
They had feasted on
nightingale’s tongues and other
delicacies, and now they were happy
to get a crust of bread. This is a
good lesson to learn. Paul says,
“Having food and raiment let us
be therewith content.” 1 Timothy
6:8.
God’s promise
does not include palatial homes, rich
appointments, and all the latest
conveniences. While we would not
exclude these under appropriate
circumstances, they are not included
in Christ’s prayer. In it, we
ask for bread.
God does not frown on
riches. If we have honestly acquired
some of the good things of life, and
if we use them rightly, we thank God
for them. Job was the richest man in
all the East, and God blessed him.
Abraham was a rich man, and so were
David and Solomon.
God is not against
riches, but against their misuse. Men
who have riches and look down on
others who have not, men who forget
that it is God who gives power to
obtain wealth and that they are not
owners but stewards of their
possessions, men forget that a part
of what they have God requires of
them, men who forget their
brother’s need and close their
eyes to the cry of the world –
such will find it hard to enter
heaven. It is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than
for them to gain eternal life.
Matthew 19:24.
In daily bread we are
justified in including not only bread
to sustain life, but such things as
shelter, clothing, health, and also
for the mind and, of course,
spiritual needs. Many people of the
world need bread, many are
undernourished, and children suffer
for want of that which we waste. A
terrible responsibility rests upon
those who have, who store up, who
waste while others starve. This holds
for nations and individuals. However,
great as the need is for temporal
food, we must admit that there is a
great need for intellectual and
spiritual nourishment. In some
respects, this need is even greater.
The prayer for bread
furnishes an excellent illustration
of how God answers prayer. We ask for
bread, and then we work in the sweat
of our face to provide it ourselves.
Even though Christians believe in
prayer, no one would think of asking
God to furnish food without any
effort on the part of the one who
prays. Even when God sent manna from
heaven, the Israelites had to go out
and gather it. God did indeed send
ravens with food for Elijah, and God
can do the same today; but this is
not God’s ordinary way of
working.
It is just as
consistent to ask God for bread and
expect Him to bring it to our door,
as to ask God for any other blessing
a hand to help ourselves. The fact
that we in most instances are to
answer our own prayers needs to be
impressed upon all. We may ask God to
convert the heathen; but if so, we
are not to look the other way when
the collection plate is passed. God
helps those who help themselves
– and others.
To those who are
religious but unconcerned about their
brother’s temporal needs, God
sends a warning. “Cry aloud,
spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and show My people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob
their sins. Yet they seek Me daily,
and delight to know My ways, as a
nation that did righteousness, and
forsook not the ordinance of their
God: they ask of Me the ordinances of
justice; they take delight in
approaching to God. Wherefore have we
fasted, they say, and Thou seest not.
Wherefore we have afflicted our soul,
and Thou takest no knowledge?”
Isaiah 58: 1-3.
The people who make
the complaint that God takes no
notice of them are religious people.
They fast and afflict their souls,
but God does not hear. They seek God
daily and ‘delight in
approaching to God.” And still
God does not hear their prayers. They
think He ought to. They pray daily.
What is wrong with
them? In His answer, God tells them
wherein they fail. They pray and
afflict their souls, they fast and
keep the ordinances of God, but God
ignores them. They do not keep the
right kind of fast. Then God
tells them what to do. They fast to
be seen of men. They go with bowed
heads and spread sackcloth and ashes
under them. “Wilt thou call this
a fast, and an acceptable day to the
Lord?” asks God. Verse 5. Is not
this the true fast, God said,
“to deal thy bread to the
hungry, and that thou bring the poor
that are cast out to thy house [not
to the poorhouse or some public
institution]? When thou seest the
naked, that thou cover him; and that
thou hide not thyself from thy own
flesh?” Verse 7. God’s
further demands are “to loose
the bands of wickedness, to undo the
heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break
every yoke.” Verse 6.
This calls for
personal work for the needy and
oppressed, not merely for a donation,
even though it be liberal. It calls
for social justice and the breaking
of every yoke. Most of all, God wants
His people to get in personal contact
with the needs of the world. It is
not enough to abstain from foods when
the larders are full. It is rather to
empty the larders and give to the
needy so that nothing is left for the
giver himself. God delights in that
fast. There is no virtue in going
without food when there is an
abundance in the house. However, to
give “thy bread to the
hungry” – that is real
fasting.
If we do this, God
promises many blessings. God will
hear our prayers. “Then shalt
thou call, and the Lord shall
answer…. If thou draw out thy
soul to the hungry, and satisfy the
afflicted soul; then shall thy light
rise in obscurity, and thy darkness
be as the noonday: thy soul in
drought, and make fat thy bones: and
thou shalt be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose
waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:
9-11.
In these verses, God
reveals some reasons why prayers are
not answered. We have not considered
the needs of others, as we should. We
have prided ourselves on what we have
done, and cannot understand why God
does not hear our prayers. Why does
God not give more signal answers to
our prayers? Why does He not hear our
prayers for healing? Why does He not
hear our prayers for conversations?
Why are so many of our young people
slipping away? Why are there so many
divorces? Why is there such small
attendance at the prayer meetings?
Why, why, why, why? We
have given, we have worked, we have
prayed. Why does God not hear? It
would be well to study carefully and
playfully the fifty-eighth chapter of
Isaiah. In that chapter, there is
light for God’s people at this
time. There is more religion in a
loaf of bread and a bottle of milk
than in the most profound lecture on
predestination or in a discussion of
the identity of the king of the
north.
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