Article May 15, 1909 Issue

"THY WILL BE DONE."

WILLIAM LLOYD

We have been accustomed to regard the pathetic resignation of the human will to the divine which Jesus expressed in the garden of Gethsemane, as a phase of thought most difficult to enter into, but upon giving the matter serious consideration, we find this, like many of our other preconceived ideas, to be entirely false concept of the prayer, that instead of being the most exacting, it is really the easiest and most natural petition to offer. Let any of us of middle age look back over the past twenty or twenty-five years and ask, Of what value has been our own guidance or will? Speaking for myself I can say that some of the very things that seemed misfortunes—things I would have prevented if I possibly could—have turned out to be blessings: while some I have striven with all my might to attain, and have gained, proved worthless, and I lived to regret my seeming success in these directions. If this be true with all of us, as I believe it is, then we can place no reliance on our own will and guidance—and what is left us? What but the divine will and guidance! Then comes the question, What kind of a God do we believe in?

Our former concept of God as an enlarged human personality, not nearly so active as that other supposed personality, Satan, whose activities He apparently interfered with but little,—this concept did not encourage us to say, "Thy will be done." Such a God—one day angry with us, another day pleased: supposed to be all powerful, yet creating or at least permitting evil—seemed to possess a will as little to be relied upon as our own, and I do not now wonder that we seriously doubted the possibility of offering this prayer with sincerity.

But when Christian Science discovers to us the real God, then our concept of this supplication to the Almighty is entirely altered, for we find an unchanging God, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." We find that God is not a person in the human sense, but is infinite Mind; that this Mind is also intelligence, wisdom, Love,—all pervading,—"in whom," as St. Paul told the Athenians, "we live, and move, and have our being;" that this God has no consciousness of evil, has never sent sorrow or pain to any of His children; that all sorrow and pain are the direct and inevitable sequence of broken law—broken by mortals through fear, ignorance, or sin. So, given infinite Mind—at one and the same time intelligence, wisdom, and Love,—unchangeable and ever-present, we find that we cannot go where He is not, nor get outside of His wisdom and care. Then, like tired children, we lay down our poor fallible human wills, and gratefully and naturally say, "Thy will be done," and at last we understand Jesus' saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"THY WILL BE DONE."

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access