“Thy will be done”

What is His will? That we know Him. I know that knowing God better is not a good trade for the life of your child. Yet, it is the goal God has had from the beginning of time for you and for your child. It’s His agenda for us all.

“Thy will be done.” Jesus prayed it and so do we. In the Garden, before His crucifixion, Jesus begged God to revise His plan for history. Jesus urgently and passionately wrestled in prayer, sweating hard, that “this cup pass from me.” But the sweating and wrestling stopped and peace came over Him when He concluded He would yield to the Father’s will – “Thy will be done.” You can sense that peace in His determination and focus on the goal, in His humility throughout the pseudo-trial and mocking, because as far as He was concerned, the issue was settled. Thy will be done, period, end of story.

We pray it in the prayer Jesus taught us through His disciples. “Our Father… Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). In heaven it is done always, immediately and completely. Thinking about myself, I fall far short of doing His will so thoroughly. (Thankfully, His grace covers my sin even more thoroughly!)

What is His will that we are praying for? His will is that we know Him. His will is that we walk with Him, experience His mercy, grow to be more like Him and reflect His character.

“…have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;” Philippians 2:5-6

“He… predestined [us] to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” Romans 8:29 That’s the end result God has planned for us.

Job became more like Him when he saw and understood more deeply because of his losses and grief. Job questioned deeply God’s plans, and then yielded to His will.

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." Job 42:3-5

Your child died. It must have been God’s will since it happened. Your child has completed that goal already because she/he has seen Him and knows Him. But now, can you yield, and become more like Him through this valley of the shadow of death? This IS God’s will for you now. Allow Him to use this horrible event, your child’s death, to work in you so that you are more conformed to His likeness.

"Thy will be done."