In King’s Cross, Timothy Keller writes that “suffering happens … when there’s a gap between the desires of your heart and the circumstances of your life.”
He goes on to describe Jesus at Gethsemane as he struggles between what it is he knows he has to do (die on the cross) with what it is that he really wants to do (which is live). In the end, though, Keller points out that Jesus ultimately submits to God saying “not as I will, but what you will.”
Thy will be done.
They are familiar words and I wonder if we haven’t said The Lord’s Prayer so much that the words have lost meaning.
They will be done.
Not our will. His will.
Lately “thy will be done” are the only words I find I am able to pray. The circumstances of my life right now so out of whack with what I desire to do, that I struggle to find the words to pray. I don’t even know where to begin with God.
So lately it’s been only “thy will be done.”
Today, I made it out to the labyrinth at church. Eventually hedges will mark the path, but right now, rocks serve to show the path and they do it quite well. The path is a little jagged, a little raggedy; at one point it disappears into a thicket of pine and scrub, only to reappear a few feet later.
But I walked it this afternoon, trying to think of what to say to God as I walked and finally settling on “thy will be done.”
No sooner had I thought the words though, then I heard what sounded like rain on the church roof. I was twenty feet away, but the rain hadn’t reached me yet.
As I began to feel the beginning bombardment, I ran from the labyrinth back to the church, huddling under what little shelter I could find.
The skies opened up and for about thirty seconds, it rained so hard, the raindrops pounding the ground with such force, it almost hurt to watch.
And then just like that, the clouds parted and sunlight flooded the lawn.
Rain and then sun in seconds.
And sun so bright and so hot, it made it seem like it had never rained at all.
I waited a few more seconds and then returned to the labyrinth to finish.
All the while thinking that sometimes God’s language is so perfect, it doesn’t need translation.
Rain and then sun so that it was like it never rained at all.
Let His will be done always.
