Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Reading: Matthew 6,10
Your will be done
Reflection: I think one of the first words my son learned was “MINE.” If you tried to do something he wanted to do by himself, you would get aggressive, angry, demanding, loud, and insistent “MINE! MIIIIINE!” (he didn’t even know how to speak properly yet). It is inherent in us to want to have our lives in our hands. If someone tries to take that away from us, we feel worthless, diminished, and robbed. “I can do it all by myself.” “I know best how to do it.” “I don’t need anyone telling me what to do.”
Proverbs 14,12 brings an interesting truth: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Imagine that you are cooking jam on the stove in a large pot, and your two-year-old child is twirling around your legs. It is small, full of a desire to explore this world, a positive desire that is innate, God-given. It is very interesting what you are doing up there. It is ready to explore because an exploratory spirit is healthy in children. There is nothing wrong with that. The jam is boiling. The child reaches for the handle to grab that pot full of mysterious contents. You jump and prevent it from reaching for the pot, preventing it from spilling all of its hot contents on itself. It bitterly cries because you have denied it adventure and pleasure. It does not know that you have saved its life. Let your will be done, not its!
This is a very good picture of our position in relation to our Heavenly Father. Compared to His perspective, our perspective is equal to that of a two-year-old child. Even when we have the best intentions, even when there is not a shred of dirty, selfish, or sinful motive in us, even then we make decisions that can cost us dearly. That is why we need a Father. We need His insight and His guidance.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, it is wonderful to call You “Dad.” It is wonderful to have You in this world of uncertainty. Help me to willingly surrender myself to Your safe hands today, knowing that You have what is best for me. Forgive me for so often showing through my actions that I think I know better how to take care of myself than You would for me. Forgive me for my clenched fist that holds on to the right to decide everything on my own. I pray that You will help me to understand how powerless I am to protect myself from my wrong steps and that I will say with full confidence in Your goodness: let Your will be done, not mine. Amen.
Translated from the Bosnian language by ChatGPT Feb 13 Version