Dr. Ron Sumners
September 14, 2003
In World War II the Troop Ship, Dorchester, sank off the coast of Greenland. Four chaplains, two protestant, a Roman Catholic and a Jew gave their life belts to others. Holding hands on the deck, they went down with the ship.
One of these four was Clark Poling. His father described the turning point in the life of this young man. While attending a prep school, the boy called his father long distance and told him that he had to meet with him. The father was worried, wondering what sort of trouble his son had gotten into. The meeting at the train station was strained. In silence, they drove to the father’s office. They walked in and the father closed the door. Clark slumped in a chair. The father waited anxiously for the boy to begin.
Suddenly Clark lifted his eyes and asked, “Dad, what do you know about God?” His father was caught off guard. He had not expected this question. Then he began to speak.
“Son, I don’t know much about God, but what I know, I really know. I have tested Him in joy and in sorrow, in victory and in defeat. I don’t know much about God; but what I know, I really know.”
That was the day Clark Poling set out on the path which led him into ministry and eventually to the deck of the sinking Dorchester.
When we pray this section of the Lord’s Prayer, we admit both our ignorance and knowledge of God. I don’t know much about God’s will, but what I know, I really know!
To fully understand what this phrase means, we must look back at the phrase that we studied last week; Thy Kingdom Come. We can see that the second petition explains and amplifies the first. We then have the perfect definition of the Kingdom of God. It is where the will of God is done as perfectly as it is in heaven. Here we have the explanation of how the kingdom can be past, present and future all at the same time. Any man or woman, who at any time in history, did God’s will was within the Kingdom of God. But, since the world is very far from being a place where God’s will is perfectly done, the consummation of the kingdom is still in the future and something we long for and pray for.
To be in the kingdom is to obey the will of God. The Kingdom of God is the most personal thing in the whole world. The kingdom demands the submission of my will, my heart and my life. It is only when each of us makes that personal decision and submission that the kingdom comes. To pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” is to pray that we may submit our wills entirely to the will of God.
The most important thing in the world is to obey the will of God. The most freeing words you can ever say are, “Thy will be done.” But the frame of mind and the tone of voice in which these words are spoken make a world of difference.
A man can say, “Thy will be done,” in a tone of defeated resignation. He may say it, not because he wishes to say it, but because he has accepted the fact that he cannot possibly say anything else. He may say it because he has accepted the fact that God is too strong for him and that it is useless to fight against God.
Omar Khyyam wrote a poem that presents this picture of God. He likens God to a checker player and you and I as the checkers who have no choice but to be moved as the checker player wills:
But helpless pieces of the game He plays
Upon the checker board of nights and days;
hither and thither moves, and checks and slays,
and one by one back in the closet lays.
A man can accept God’s will, not because he loves God, but because he realizes that he can do nothing else. The problem is a lack of faith.
The problem is that we don’t believe our prayer does any good, so we pray with resignation, “Thy will be done. You are going to do what you’re going to do anyway.” It is a tired, defeated, weary, joyless way to pray and live. William Barclay calls it “Prayer with a gray acceptance.” The primary reason that our prayer life is as weak as it is, is because we really don’t believe it’s going to do any good. We just talk to God and leave it there because we don’t think it will make any difference. We say, “Thy will be done,” like we know what we’ve asked for probably won’t happen.
Look at Acts 12 and you’ll find a classic example.
Peter was in prison and the church was assembled to pray for his release. While they were praying, God performed a miracle and Peter is released. He decided to go see the folks at the prayer meeting. When he got there, Rhoda the maid, asked who it was. She recognized the voice and she was so excited she didn’t even let him in. She ran to tell the others. They had been praying that Peter be released from prison. Guess how they responded to Rhoda. “Rhoda, you are crazy, Peter is in jail!” And when they finally let Peter in, the Bible says that they were all astonished! They were praying for Peter’s release, but they didn’t think it would do any good.
This defeated resignation can create bitter resentment in some people. God is too strong to resist, so we say “Thy will be done,” through clinched teeth. Some of you may have experienced the loss of a child, or the death of a friend or family member, the break-up of a relationship, an illness, and you say, “God, thy will be done,” with clenched fists and teeth gritted with bitterness.
The melody of the hymn, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, was written by Ludwig Von Beethoven. But Beethoven did not understand the English words. The original German emphasizes the magic of God instead of the love of God. Beethoven wrote beautiful music, but he would not have agreed with the Christian words given to the hymn. He became a bitter man. Life was hard for him; he became deaf. Beethoven died all alone. It is said that when they found his body his lips were drawn back in a snarl and his fists were clenched as if he were shaking his fists in the face of God.
Some people approach life that way and they become bitter and angry at God and “Thy will be done” becomes almost a curse upon their lips. It is, to them, a statement of the inevitable, of the power of a cruel and capricious God. The problem is a lack of understanding of the nature of God.
God is love! A man may feel that God is his enemy and yet an enemy so strong that he cannot resist. He may therefore accept God’s will, but with resentment and smoldering anger! Do you know someone like that? I have known several through the years. They are miserable people and they attempt to make all those around them miserable as well. They want you to be just as bitter and resentful as they are. If you are not, you are labeled as naïve or stupid. If that is the case, I’ll choose naivety or stupidity every time!
When we say, “Thy will be done,” it assumes that God’s will is not always done. I’ve heard people who talk like everything that happens is God’s will. I believe that God’s ultimate will, will be done.
This created order will be redeemed to God; that is His ultimate will. Is everything that happens God’s will? We talked a few weeks ago about hallowing God’s name. Are there times when God’s name is not hallowed? Yes! We talked about the kingdom of God. Has God’s kingdom come into every life? No! We pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will is done in heaven.
Is it always done on the earth? No! That is the purpose of the prayer. Not everything that happens on this earth is God’s will. Many terrible things happen in this world, which are caused by man’s free choice and evil heart. They are contrary to the will of God. God does allow them because He has given us the right to make choices, and too often, the choices we make are contrary to God’s design.
God’s design is that all men should be saved. John 3:16 affirms that truth. Are they? No! Some choose not to accept Christ. It is their choice to refuse God’s offer. It is not God’s will, but God allows it because He gave us the ability to choose. It is called free will! God’s will is to destroy death, hell and the grave through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But you can say, No!
Do men die? Yes! Men die because man brought sin and death into the world. God’s will is that none should go to hell (John 10:28). Do men go to hell? Yes, some choose that way!
Some say, “Thy will be done,” in resignation, some say it in bitterness, but some say it in perfect love and trust. Some say it willingly and gladly, no matter what it may be. We all should be able to say, “Thy will be done,” because we know two sure things about God. I may not know much about God but there are two things that I really know.
I am sure of the wisdom of God. Sometimes when we want something built or constructed we call in a professional. He makes some suggestions and we respond, “Do what you think is best, you are the expert.” The expert on life is God; after all, He created it! His guidance can never lead anyone astray. We know that God is just and righteous. We can say to Him, “Thy will be done,” because we know He has the wisdom to know what is right even when we don’t.
I am sure of the love of God! John Whittier wrote:
I know not where His islands lift
their fronded palms in air,
I only know I cannot drift
beyond His love and care.
Robert Browning wrote these words of faith:
God, Thou art love! I build
my faith on that.
I know Thee, who has kept my
path and made light for me in
the darkness, tempering sorrow
so that it reached me like a
solemn joy. It were too strange
that I should doubt Thy love.
God loves us! No one can look at the cross and doubt the love of God. Romans 8:32 tells us, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things.” When we are sure of God’s love, it is easy to say, “Thy will be done!”
A fellow was unexpectedly asked to give his testimony at a Sunday school class meeting. Not knowing exactly what to say, he turned the meeting into a confession service admitting that he had to cheat and lie in his business. He dismissed it with these words, “But you fellows are in business and you know you just have to do that kind of thing to get ahead.”
“As you fellows may know, I do a little gambling,” he added. He was quick to remind them, however, that he merely gambled as a diversion.
He also admitted that he was a social drinker. He was quick to remind his friends that he did not drink to excess and tried never to get drunk any more than twice a year.
“As many of you fellows know, I can curse a little too.” Again, he tried to dismiss his sin by saying, “A fellow gets upset in this competitive world and he has to talk tough to get action.”
He ended his testimony by saying, “I’m very thankful that, even though I may not be an angel, I have never lost my religion.”
Could it be that only the true Christian can pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?”
Could it be that those who never allow Christ to control their lives have never entered the kingdom and have never found any religion to lose?
Today, we fervently pray that God’s will be done in the life of each one here today.
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