Right now, perhaps more than ever, you and I hope in, question, and wonder about God’s will. There is hardly a person on the planet that would say, “It is my will that COVID-19 keeps spreading and these ‘shelter in place’ orders remain longer.” It is normal for us to have our own plans and do what we can to execute them. It is normal for us to evaluate the way things are going in our world and the world around us and think, “I’d make things unfold differently if I had the power to change things.”
In all that we are talking about matters of “will” and in the Lord’s Prayer we come now to “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As believers, we know God is good, holy, righteous, and gracious, so we want his bigger, better, and higher will to be done. We know his ways are better than our ways and his will better than ours, so we want his will to be done in our lives and in the world around us. However, it’s easy to question if God is simply being thwarted.
Is COVID-19 really a part of His plan? It sure as heck isn’t a part of basically anyone else’s will on earth. I would hope God is having his way with things but I’m really questioning and wondering about that right now. It is in times like these that we must hold on to the truths that God “…works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). He does not just work some things, or a few things, but every single thing according to his will. Now, this does not mean he directly causes or directly controls all things. God does not cause sin nor tempt people to sin. But it does mean that in some mysterious way, he works all things according to his perfectly good and holy will.
Well, how in the world could he possible use COVID-19 for his purposes? Well, I don’t know and it would be foolish for me to guess, as though I’m a prophet, what God is doing on a global scale. However, we can say, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Rom. 8:28 pushes us to pray, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” because his will is perfectly good, unlike ours, and his will is that every single thing is worked for the good of those who are in Christ by faith, all to his glory (which is our joy!). God always has his way with things and that’s a really good thing, so may his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The following is a simple prayer to help you pray this portion of the Lord’s Prayer:
“your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” – Father, your ways are higher and better than ours. We do not know how you are using and will use this pandemic for your glory and our good, but you are and you will. While you do not directly cause everything to happen, you always have your way as God, and your ways are perfectly good and trustworthy. We trust your will over ours and ask that your holy will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Pray For Others – Father, I pray that you would show … that your ways are higher than ours. Neither I nor they know how you are using this pandemic but you are and you will use it for our good and your glory; so give us trust in you! Give them faith in your sovereign control of all things as our perfectly good and trustworthy God.
