My two-year-old has a will and he loves letting the rest of us know what it is. Whether he’s telling me he wants to ride his bike or doesn’t want to go to bed, he lets me know.
If I contradict his will…he lets me know his displeasure with my choice. On more than one occasion he has tried to send me to time-out for not doing what he wants. What he doesn’t know is I would be fine with a time-out. 😉
Eli knows what he wants, but not what he needs. Sometimes what he wants would actually hurt him. As he grows up, hopefully, he’ll start to trust me a bit to know what is best. Even more, I hope he grows up to trust that God’s will is best. After all, I’m far from perfect.
God, however, is perfect, He is wise, and He loves us. We can trust His will.
My wife, Melissa, periodically gets kidney stones. The last time she got one we went to the emergency room. They treated her, ran some tests, and got the pain to a manageable level. Before we left, the doctor prescribed some medicines. We asked the doctor which meds could be taken together and how often to take them.
Melissa followed the doctor’s directions for the medication not because she had no choice, but because she trusted the doctor knew what he was talking about and that he had her best interests in mind. She knew that going against the doctor’s directions was risky and could even be fatal.
I used to think praying for God’s will was me surrendering in a power struggle. If I wanted to follow Jesus, I had to be willing to give up my way, which was pretty great, and give into His will. However, I’ve come to realize that it isn’t so much a power struggle as a realization that God’s way is much better than mine.
Melissa not only trusted the doctor’s direction but sought it because she realized she didn’t know enough to make a wise decision on her own. Her doctor did. This is trust we see from Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane right before His arrest.
