Your Will?

The men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand .'” – 1 Samuel 24:4

Most mornings I pray the Lord’s Prayer, including, “Thy will be done.”

But I’ve come to realize that I don’t very often check in with God as the day goes on to ask what God’s will might actually be. I’m trying to change that.

The thing about David is that he did check. “Not my will, but thy will be done” was his m.o., at least at this point in his young life. Later not so much.

So here, the insanely jealous King Saul had been raging after David, hunting him down.

When Saul needed to “relieve himself,” he took refuge in a cave. What Saul didn’t know was that David and his men were already holed up in the same cave.

“This is your chance,” urged David’s men.

But David didn’t take it. Why not? It’s not that David was a pacifist. 

Taking Saul out would have meant taking matters into his own hands—not trusting that the situation was in God’s hands.

Sometimes people are skeptical that we can ever really know God’s will. But maybe the real problem is that, if we ask, we often discover that God’s will and our will aren’t quite the same. It’s not that we don’t get an answer. We don’t like the answer we get.

And even when you don’t get an answer, sometimes just asking the question makes a difference.

Prayer

Help us to mean it and to do it, to truly ask what your will is for us. And then give us the strength to do it. Amen.

About the Author
Tony Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher, and writer. He is the author of many books, including What’s Theology Got to Do With It: Convictions, Vitality and the Church. You can read Tony’s “Weekly Meditation” and “What’s Tony Thinking?” at his website, www.anthonybrobinson.com.