God’s Will Or Our Will?
This is an audio recording of God’s Will or Our Will? the Day 21 entry in Today: Devotions for Seafarers (Vol. 2) by Jason Zuidema.
Listen to the audio by Donielle Hart Goad or read the text below:
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ”
Sooner or later we are all faced with life situations that go beyond our control. On board a ship our work can go from boring to intensely dangerous in a matter of minutes. Most seafarers know what this intense and sudden pressure feels like.
This is true in other areas of life also. Whether it's sickness, tension in a relationship or at work, loss of a job, or advancing age, we come to realize that we have no ability to control the outcome. We must simply be patient and, as is often said, "live one day at a time." Though we usually learn this lesson later in life, it might be helpful to learn it far earlier.
Learning that we have no control over our lives, however, may not necessarily help us. It could simply lead us to despair that nothing will ever turn out. "What’s the use of even trying?" we might ask.
But James gives Christian pilgrims the way to move forward with assurance: praying that God's will be done.
Jesus taught his disciples this important principle in the Lord's Prayer, highlighting that his followers can ask that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus also prayed that God's will would be done through his own death for our sake. In paying for our sin, Jesus marked a path for us through death to eternal life so that we can walk with the assurance of God's presence and guidance now and always.
Are you seeking God's kingdom and walking in his will, even when you cannot control your circumstances?
For Further Thought
Why is it important that we live "one day at a time"?
Why is it important to know that God controls the future—and that we don't?
Do you pray for God's will to be done in your life? What are the results you have seen?
Prayer
All-powerful God, if it is your will, I will do the things prepared for this day. If my plans are not in line with your will, please correct my path by your Word and Spirit. May I give glory to you today. Amen.
