I’m big into symbols. I visited an Anglican church a ways back, in which they began each service with a processional, all the clergy walking into the sanctuary to great fanfare – but all of them behind a small altar boy with a deadly serious expression on his face, who carried in the Bible. The picture was clear: the Word of God was paramount.
But that’s a relatively “safe” symbol to get behind. One that was a bit scarier to me was at my wedding, during the Unity Candle lighting. If you’re not familiar with a Unity Candle, it’s three candles, usually two smaller ones with a big one in the middle. At the beginning of our wedding, my soon-to-be mother-in-law and my Mom walked in and each lit one of the side candles, each representing my wife and I respectively. After saying our vows, some special music played while my wife and I walked to the Unity Candle. Each of us took “our” candle and lit the center Unity Candle. I remember quite clearly that moment when I looked at the candle representing me as an individual, took a deep breath and blew it out.
In the same way, “Thy Will Be Done” is a scary prayer, because in praying it, we abandon ourselves to His will and His plans for us – without asking Him to submit them for our approval and/or feedback. And what He has in store for His followers often does not involve comfort, stability, health and wealth. As C.S. Lewis put it,
We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.
Here’s the thing that I can’t get past: while God often does bless people with comfortable lives, that comfort and stability we crave is often at odds with God’s will. Practically-speaking, He wants to change the world through us – and if we’re comfortable, we’re much more likely to say, “send someone else, God.” If there’s nothing wrong with our personal world, then why would we work to change it, to turn it upside down? Discomfort – even pain and loss – can be a blessing from God, the thing that moves us to fully surrender our agenda to His greater plan… whatever that may be. At the last Reach Out Honduras dinner, I remember hearing Laura Waits talk about their decision to move to Honduras, and her worries about what that might mean for their kids. She said something to the effect of, “if God was truly calling us, He was calling all of us – and that included our kids.” She took a deep breath and let go, leaving the health, future and well-being of her kids up to her God, trusting that He loved them and had even bigger hopes for them than even she did.
What are you holding back? What keeps you from truly allowing God to be king of your world and all that is in it? What keeps you from trusting Him… with your kids, with your career and finances, with your future?
As we proceed to the next section on Sunday, pray with me today. In the end, you and I have no real control over the events of our world, of our lives. But the Sovereign God who spoke everything into being and who even now holds it all together – He does have control, and He loves you so much more than you know. He knows your hopes and your fears, and we can trust Him. Pray that He’d give us the courage to trust everything to Him, to say, “thy will be done,” to sing, “I surrender all” – and then not take it back.
Who knows what He will do – in our community, in our nation – with a Church whose members have fully submitted to His reign?
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